


Don't Blink You'll Miss It (Lift Up Your Head)

by umisabaku



Series: Designation: Miracle [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:37:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 81,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5556464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umisabaku/pseuds/umisabaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been three years since seven human experiments, called "Miracles," escaped Teiko Industries, alerting the world to the presence of super-powered children. Now they're finally integrating into society-- going to normal high schools, playing basketball, falling in love-- and trying to find out if it's possible to truly escape their past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Не закрывая глаз (и поднимая взгляд)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7256914) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account)
  * Translation into Español available: [No Parpadees O Te Lo Perderás (Alza La Cabeza)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12293166) by [LunaP95](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaP95/pseuds/LunaP95)



> This story is loosely, *loosely* inspired by the 2000-2002 American TV show Dark Angel. Most of the subject matter is in line with what appeared on that show. I chose not to Archive warnings to avoid spoilers, but see the end notes for warnings if you would like details for what to expect.
> 
> Also, while this is an AU, it does spoil some events for the entire KnB anime, and it even incorporates some of the events and characters in Extra Game (although, no real spoilers for that? Because AU.)
> 
> The title comes from the song "And We Run" by Within Temptation feat. Xzibit. I think of that song as the unofficial theme song for the escape from Teiko, and thus the whole fic.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

 

Kagami Taiga didn’t want to come back to Japan, but of course his father never cared about what _he_ wanted. Kagami wants to stay in America, with all his friends, and play basketball.

In Japan, he is too tall. Too large, he eats too much, everything he does is excessive. He doesn’t know how to speak with proper honorifics and he doesn’t know all the customs and sometimes he forgets what shoes he’s supposed to wear and he hates everything.

He resigns himself to spending the next three years as a freak.

*

His first day of school he signs up for the basketball club and doesn’t expect much. People stare and avoid him. By the third day he realizes they’re still staring and it’s starting to feel a little extreme.

Finally, he starts catching some of the whispers.

“—do you think that’s him?”

“It’s got to be, right?”

“He’s so scary! I’m terrified to be in the same class as him!”

“I can’t believe they’re letting the Miracles go to school.”

He starts hearing that word, _Miracle_ , whispered throughout the halls, repeatedly. It’s when he begins to suspect people aren’t staring at him because he’s a large returnee from America, but that maybe they’re confused about something.

*

“What’s a Miracle?”

He asks the basketball team, because they’re the only ones who talk to him. Specifically, the senpais, because the other First Years still stare at him in terror.

The coach gapes at him. “Are you _joking?_ Where have you been the last three years?”

“America,” Kagami says defensively.

“It was international news, _moron!”_ the captain says. “Even America got coverage about the Miracles and Teiko!”

The name Teiko finally rings a bell. “Oh, you mean those mutant kids? The ones with special powers?” He scratches the back of his head. “You mean those were real? I always kinda assumed it was a hoax. Like Godzilla.”

The coach looks like she wants to hit Kagami over the head but she’s being restrained by Mitobe and Koganei. “Yes, Bakagami!” she yells. “They’re real!”

“Well, why does everyone think I am one?” Kagami asks.

This stops Riko. The basketball senpais look a bit confused, so they probably hadn’t heard the rumors. His fellow First Years seem relieved at the implication that he’s _not_ a mutant after all.

“Do they?” Riko says. “I guess that makes sense. It’s your hair.”

“My hair?” Kagami repeats.

“All the Miracles have strange colored hair and eyes, don’t you even know that?” Riko says.

Kagami had heard something like that, but he hadn’t paid too much attention, honestly. He forgot most things that didn’t have to do with basketball.

“But why would they think _I_ was one?” Kagami insists. “I thought they were all kept on a military base somewhere.”

Riko shakes her head. “You really haven’t been paying _any_ attention to the News, have you?”

“I only watch the sports segment,” Kagami says resentfully.

“All the Miracles were enrolled in a Japanese High School this year,” Izuki explains. “All across Japan.”

“There was a rumor going around that one of them was coming to Seirin,” Koganei muses. “That’s probably why everyone thought it was you.”

Hyuuga rolls his eyes. “Every high school in Japan probably had that rumor. Which is really stupid, considering we know where they all went.”

“If there was one at Seirin, we would have seen him by now,” Tsuchida says. “Since it’s not Kagami, I mean.”  

*

The other basketball club First Years spread the word that Kagami is not a mutant with special powers.

“Oh, you’re _American,_ ” the class rep says, slapping Kagami in the back. “You should have just said!”

Kagami scowls. It wasn’t _his_ fault they thought he’d had special powers just because he had red hair.

“I’m so glad!” a girl says. “I was terrified when I thought a Miracle was in this class!”

“Ah!” another girl exclaims, holding her cheeks and staring dreamily off into the distance, “If it was Kise-kun, I wouldn’t mind!”

“There’s no way one would come to Seirin after all,” a boy says, “I heard they all went to famous schools.”

“Thank God ours is brand new,” someone else says.

“Why?” Kagami asks.

Everyone stares at him.

“What’s so bad with having one of them here?” Kagami persists.

“Have you seen what they can do?” a boy asks incredulously. “They’re monsters!”

“They’re the same age as us, yeah?” Kagami says. “They’re just kids.”

“They aren’t _human,_ ” a girl says.

“Sure they are,” Kagami says, irritated. Growing up in America, Kagami’s older brother figure had been a bit of a closet comic book fanatic. Himuro Tatsuya had read all the X-Men comics and watched a lot of Sci-Fi shows and had dragged Kagami to see all the movies. He would spend hours talking about it with Kagami, who had tuned most of it out, honestly, but had sort of walked away from all of it with the feeling that if psychics or mutants or people with special powers actually existed, it would be pretty dumb just to hate them for who they were.

“They’re human,” Kagami says again. “They’re probably just like us. It wouldn’t be a big deal if one went to this school.”

His classmates look like they’re reassessing his status as “not-Mutant.”

Whatever. He didn’t want to be friends with people who’d avoided him just because they’d _thought_ he had special powers.

*

He shoots hoops one night after eating at Maji Burger, because it’s not like there’s much point in going home to an empty house. He feels irritated and restless and still wishes he was back in America.

He shoots and then sees someone out of the corner of his eye. It startles him so much he misses the shot.

“Gah!” he flails. “Where did you come from?”

The boy picks up the basketball that rolled to his feet. “I was here the whole time.”

Kagami looks him up and down. He’s short and pale and fragile looking. He’s wearing the same school uniform as Kagami, but Kagami doesn’t remember seeing him.

He has pale blue eyes and pale blue hair.

Now that Kagami knows about the Miracles, he understands this isn’t exactly unusual in Japan. Fans of the Miracles have cropped up everywhere, and it’s incredibly popular to dye your hair and wear colored contacts.

This boy doesn’t look like the typical fan. He has a serious, expressionless face.

“My name is Kuroko Tetsuya,” the boy says formally.

“You’re a Miracle,” Kagami blurts out.

Kuroko shrugs. “Yes, technically. I was at Teiko. But I am nothing like the others. I am the weakest of them.”

Kagami looks at him some more and, yeah, he doesn’t seem like any kind of threat. “Can you play basketball?”

“I learned the rules,” Kuroko says, unbuttoning his jacked. He sounds pleased. “If you would like to go one-on-one, I would like to test your strength.”

“Perfect,” Kagami grins. Play basketball against a guy with super powers? It’s like living in a comic book!

Two minutes into the game and Kagami is bitterly disappointed.

“Oi,” he says. “You are _super_ bad at this. Did you really think you could beat me?”

“You can’t be serious,” Kuroko says, “Of course not. Kagami-kun is obviously stronger than me.”

“Then why’d you want to play me?” Kagami yells.

“To see what it was like,” Kuroko says. “I would like to join the basketball club.”

“Eh, give up on that idea. You’re really bad.”

“I don’t want to,” Kuroko says. “I like basketball.”

Kagami looks at him. This was the mutant everyone at school was afraid of?

“Aren’t you supposed to be a more evolved human?” Kagami asks curiously. “I read all the Miracles were stronger and faster than the average human.”

“The others are,” Kuroko concedes. “Even without their powers, they possess above average athletic abilities. The scientists at Teiko did not design me the same way. They deemed physical strength a hindrance for the development of my abilities.”

Kagami blinks at how frankly the boy talks about “being designed.” It’s a reminder that Kagami is not talking to a normal human. This guy was created in a lab.

“Why are you talking to me about this?” Kagami asks. The other boy had clearly sought him out for a reason.

Kuroko looks down at the basketball in his hands. “I was impressed with what Kagami-kun said in class today.”

“You heard about that?” Kagami says, feeling embarrassed for some reason.

“I heard you say it,” Kuroko corrects. Then, at Kagami’s confusion, he clarifies, “We are in the same class.”

“We are not!” Kagami protests, because he definitely would have noticed if there was a blue haired kid in his class.

“I sit behind you,” Kuroko says.

“Shut up! You do not! The person who sits behind me—” he stops. He actually doesn’t know _who_ sits behind him. He vaguely remembers that _someone_ does, but for the life of him he can’t recall their face.

“What exactly is your power?” Kagami says suspiciously.

Kuroko gives him a small smile. “You are correct in your suspicions, Kagami-kun. I possess a kind of invisibility. Although is more accurate to call it ‘Misdirection.’ I can divert attention away from myself.”

“That’s… kind of lame, actually,” Kagami says.

Kuroko nods. “I did tell you I was the weakest one.”

It doesn’t even really sound like a super power. “Well, you can come to the club. You’re not going to be able to play like that, though.”

“I have skills in other areas,” Kuroko says enigmatically.

*

Kagami learns Kuroko’s true value when the coach makes the First Years play against the Second Years. (With the addition of Kuroko, a full five on five game is finally possible.)

The basketball club accepts Kuroko with the same ease they accepted Kagami. It seems that as long as you want to play basketball, it doesn’t matter if you’re a mutant or an American returnee.

The First Years scrape by with a win and everyone crowds around Kuroko after the game.

“That was so cool, Kuroko!” Fukuda says.

“It’s too bad we can’t use you in official games!” Riko exclaims. “What a waste!”

“Eh?” Kagami says. “Why can’t we?”

“Idiot!” Hyuuga says. “No one’s going to let someone with super powers on the court!”

“Oh. Right.”

“If I could make a small correction,” Kuroko says, “I was not using my abilities during this game.”

“What?” Kagami says.

“We never saw you coming!” Koganei exclaims.

“Yes,” Kuroko says. “That is correct. But that is because of the Latent Overflow.”

“The—what?” Kagami says.

“All of the Miracles have special abilities they can activate,” Kuroko explains, “And because of those abilities, there is a Latent Overflow that extends to our everyday lives that we do not consciously control. For example, my ability can render me effectively invisible when I activate it. But when I am not using my power, I have a very low presence and people rarely notice me when I am around.”

“So you weren’t using your powers at all during that game?” Furihata says.

“That is correct,” Kuroko says.

“Then maybe we could use you in the game,” Koganei says excitedly. Riko whacks him over his head.

“No,” Kuroko says, shaking his head. “One of the conditions the school board put forth when we all enrolled was that we could not compete in official games. It would give our schools an unfair athletic advantage.”

It was really hard to look at the tiny boy and consider him contributing a huge athletic advantage. Kagami couldn’t help but think it _was_ unfair. Now that he knew what Kuroko could do on a court, he would have liked to play on the same team as him.

“Still, you’re welcome to join the club, Kuroko-kun!” Riko says. “We’d love to have you during practice.”

“Thank you,” Kuroko says, bowing formally. “I will be in your care.”

*

“I am a shadow,” Kuroko says. “I work best with a light. The stronger the light, the stronger the shadow. If we were playing together, I would be the shadow to your light, and make you the strongest player in Japan.”

And it’s embarrassing, God it’s embarrassing, who says stuff like that?

But Kagami can’t help but wish they could play together anyway.

*

Now that he knows about Kuroko, the other boy seems everywhere. He’s in Kagami’s class (right behind him, as he said) in his club—they eat lunch together, oftentimes they eat dinner together. (Kagami kept sitting down at the table Kuroko was already in at Maji Burger. Since it kept happening, it only made sense to walk there with him.)

Eventually, Kagami realizes he’s spending all his time with Kuroko.

He’s not sure how he feels about that.

Coach comes skipping to the club one day and announces they have a practice match against Kaijo.

“ _Kaijo?”_ the Second Years exclaim.

“They’re a nationally ranked team!” Hyuuga says.

“It gets better!” Riko says. “They said we could use Kuroko in the game!”

This sinks in. “They’re looking down on us,” Hyuuga scowls. “They don’t think we have a chance at winning unless we play a guy with super powers?”

“No,” Kuroko says quietly. “I don’t think that’s the reason why.”

“Kuroko is correct,” Riko says. “Did you guys forget? Kise Ryouta went to Kaijo.”

Even Kagami knows who Kise Ryouta is. (Granted, he researched the Miracles after the first week of school. But he’d heard of Kise before.) Kise Ryouta was the unofficial figurehead of the Miracles. He and the girl, Momoi Satsuki. Whenever there was an interview it was almost always Kise answering the questions. He did model work, too. He had the largest fan following, the biggest TV presence.

“Why would he be playing basketball?” Izuki asks.

They all look at Kuroko.

“I am not sure,” Kuroko says.

“Oi,” Kagami says.

Kuroko dribbles a ball, then holds it in his hands. When he talks he doesn’t look at anyone. “After we escaped Teiko we stayed three years on a military base with the JSDF. Some of the soldiers taught us how to play basketball. But honestly, I did not think the others had much attachment to the game. I do not know why Kise-kun would want to play.”

“Are they all like you?” Kagami asks. Kuroko’s an asset in the game, no question, but he’s still not exactly what Kagami would call a _good_ player.

“No, I keep telling you. The others are on a whole other level than me. They were instant geniuses at the game. Kagami-kun is no where near their level.”

Kagami laughs. “That’s exciting! Bring it on, I can’t wait!”        

*

It turns out Kagami doesn’t have to wait long. Kise disrupts their practice the next day with hoards of screaming fangirls.

“Kurokocchi!” Kise wails. “It’s been too long! Kurokocchi and I were the best of friends!”

“No more than usual,” Kuroko deflects flatly.

“Kurokocchi, how cruel!” Kise fakes crying. “And we were the weakest of the Miracles, you know. The other four guys are much, much stronger than me! The others used to pick on us all the time.”

“They never picked on me,” Kuroko says.

“What! You mean it was just me?”

Kise’s fake whining is annoying, and Kagami throws a basketball at his head (which Kise has no trouble catching.)

Kagami challenges Kise to a game and instantly loses; Kise flawlessly copies a move Kagami had just done, knocking Kagami to the ground.

“Weak,” Kise says, looking down on Kagami. His gaze shifts, and suddenly he seems _dangerous._ “Humans are _so weak_. I can’t let Kurokocchi stay in a place like this! Give us Kurokocchi!”

*

Something constricts in Kagami’s throat and he can only breathe easy after Kuroko has politely declined Kise’s offer to transfer to his school.

“Besides Kise-kun,” Kuroko adds, “we all agreed to attend different schools.”

“Aominecchi and Momoicchi got to go to the same school,” Kise pouts.

“They are different,” Kuroko says. “Besides, I am happy here with the Seirin team.”

Kise looks frustrated and glares at Kagami. “At our practice match. I’ll prove we’re better. If we win, we get Kurokocchi!”

“I do not agree to those terms,” Kuroko says.

Kagami laughs. “It doesn’t matter, Kuroko! We’re definitely not going to lose.”

*

They win. It’s a near thing, though. Close enough that Kagami mildly regrets betting Kuroko (“I still do not agree to those terms,” Kuroko had said. “If we lose I am not going to Kaijo regardless.”)

Kise is a _phenomenal_ player. His ability to copy any skill is apparently just “Latent Overflow” of his psychic power. Which means he’s not really doing anything a regular human can’t.

“We’ll get our revenge at InterHigh,” Kaijo’s captain says.

“Yeah,” Hyuuga says, “Too bad it won’t be the full roster, though.”

“Agreed,” the Kaijo captain says. “I don’t see why they can’t play. It’s not like they’re doing anything normal strong players can’t do.”

Kagami agrees. It’s _fun_ playing the Miracles, playing with Kuroko.

*

Kuroko disappears after their victory meal, and Kagami goes to look for him. He’s slightly concerned about Kuroko’s head, even if the doctor _had_ cleared him. (Kise’s horrified look at the accidental injury sticks with Kagami. Kise might be an arrogant son-of-a-bitch but he clearly genuinely cared about Kuroko.)

Kagami finds Kuroko in the middle of a conversation with Kise, and he stops walking so he can shamelessly eavesdrop. (In his defense, it’s because he heard Kuroko say his name. How could he _not_ eavesdrop if they’re talking about him?)

“—Why I like playing with Kagami-kun. He is very open about how he feels. His honesty is refreshing.”

Kise sighs. “He reminds you of Orange, doesn’t he? I sorta got the same feeling, during the game.”

Kuroko doesn’t say anything.

“Hey, I’ve always wanted to ask—you’re still not under Akashicchi’s Order, are you?”

“Of course not,” Kuroko says. “The effect of his Order wore off years ago.”

Kise has a complicated expression on his face. “Let me tell you something, Kurokocchi, if you admire Kagami because of his honesty, you’re going to part ways eventually. Once he finds out about you, about _us,_ can you honestly say he’ll think the same way about you? Humans will never see us as anything but monsters.”

“I do not believe Kise-kun actually believes this. I heard you were living with Kasamatsu-san.”

Kise scowls. “You don’t know humans like I do, Kurokocchi. _Maybe_ there are some good ones, but that doesn’t mean they won’t betray us, in the end.”

Kagami’s heard enough. He interrupts by kicking out Kuroko’s knees.

*

After a display of what Kagami can only call “basketball vigilantism,” he berates Kuroko for trying to take on the thugs by himself. “What were you going to do if he attacked you? Beat them up?”

“They would have 100% beat me up. Look at these guns.”

“You don’t have any!”

Kagami continues berating Kuroko, and forgets Kise entirely until the other Miracle laughs and bids them farewell.

“Were you listening in?” Kuroko asks.

“I sure as hell was,” Kagami says. “About us parting ways? We don’t even get along to begin with,” Kagami shrugs. “But I’m absolutely never going to think you’re a monster, Kuroko.”

It’s so hard to tell what Kuroko’s thinking from his expressionless face.

“Kagami-kun can say some embarrassing things sometimes,” Kuroko says.

“Oh shut up. I don’t want to hear that from you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel the need to note that the entirety of my knowledge regarding the JSDF came from watching Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri. Kasamatsu Youji was a direct homage to Itami Youji, since why not. My sincerest apologies for any inaccuracies.

 

 

Kasamatsu Yukio’s life has been ridiculously entwined with the Miracles pretty much ever since the world discovered the mutant children existed.

There is a famous photograph from the day the children escaped Teiko—the photo was in every newspaper, blog, magazine, TV screenshot, all across the world. It won a Pulitzer prize. The photo depicts the escaped Miracles, seven thirteen-year-old children huddled together in front of the Japanese Special Defense Force. A JSDF Sergeant bends down to one knee, holding out his hands. The yellow-haired mutant—a pretty child who looks like innocence personified—is stepping into his outstretched arms for protection.

That photograph captures what is wildly considered the pivotal moment for the Miracles and the rest of the world.

Because it could have gone the other way. The photo could have depicted JSDF soldiers standing over the dead bodies of seven children.

The night the Teiko children escaped it was like a war had broken out. There was a lot of gunfire and unimaginable displays of power that could only be considered “supernatural”—objects flying through the air, objects being crushed with a single punch like an explosion—and the JSDF soldiers who responded quickly realized the unnatural displays of power were coming from the children. It would have been perfectly logical—acceptable even—for the soldiers to open fire on the Miracles.

When the JSDF Sergeant in charge was asked later why he _didn’t_ fire on the kids—why he chose to lower his weapon and embrace the children instead—he replied simply, “I have three sons at home. My eldest is only a couple years older than the Miracles. When I saw them, I didn’t see a threat. I only saw children.”

That Sergeant was Kasamatsu’s father, Kasamatsu Youji.

*

What Kasamatsu knows, but most of the world does not, is that the story doesn’t end with the photograph. The JSDF brought the escaped children to a military base, yes. They chose to open fire on the pursuing gunmen instead. But it doesn’t end with that night.

The JSDF returned to Teiko after securing the children. Kasamatsu waited for his father to return until the early hours of the next morning, his two younger brothers asleep on the floor near by, waiting with him. Kasamatsu was used to his father being deployed on dangerous jobs but somehow this was different. _Otherworldly_ powers were involved here, and Kasamatsu had seen one too many superhero movies to believe his father was going to come out of this OK. The human military force _always_ ended up with the most casualties in superhero battles.

When Kasamatsu Youji stumbled home at four in the morning he didn’t chide his sons for waiting up like he usually did. Instead, he gathered all three of them in his arms—waking up the sleeping younger boys—and did something Kasamatsu had never seen his father do before.

He cried.

He held onto his three sons and took turns sobbing into their shoulders. Kasamatsu was fifteen years old and considered himself mature for his age but that night he felt just as lost and scared as his younger brothers who were still in elementary school.

Kasamatsu Youji didn’t tell his sons what had happened at Teiko that night. He didn’t speak about it for a long time.     

*

Because he had been the first human contact, Youji felt responsible for the seven children. Kasamatsu understood that.

But then one day his father came home with a serious expression on his face. After dinner he asked to speak to Kasamatsu in private. Kasamatsu felt a deep sense of foreboding. It was never good when his father got serious about things.

“The doctors who have been looking after the children think it’s time they start socializing with other kids their age,” Youji got straight to explaining.

Kasamatsu narrows his eyes, already sensing where this is going. “And?”

“And all the personnel on base who have kids their age volunteered to bring in their children,” Youji says, confirming the worst of Kasamatsu’s suspicions. “I volunteered you. You’ll be coming with me to work this Saturday.”

“I refuse,” Kasamatsu says automatically.

“Yukkiooo,” his father whines.

“No,” Kasamatsu growls. “Absolutely not. Also, why just me? Mizuki’s closer to them in age.”

“You don’t have to come often! Just, you know, drop by every now and then. We’ll get you a pass to the base and everything. Won’t that be cool?”

“Dad, I’m in high school now,” Kasamatsu says, fed up. “All my time is already spent with studies, basketball club, and taking care of _Mizuki and Ren_.” He adds that last part viciously and feels gratified when his father winces.

Kasamatsu never once resented the time he spent looking after his younger brothers. After their mom died, it was pretty much up to Kasamatsu to make sure his brothers were fed, bathed, and getting their homework in on time. Their dad worked long hours and was often absent for weeks, even months at a time. He was home more often now that he was in charge of the Miracles. And Kasamatsu was thankful for that, but he was still the one who did most of the cooking and cleaning.

The _last_ thing he needed to do was waste his precious time trying to make friends with a bunch of socially awkward human experiments. The Miracles already _got_ his father. Kasamatsu wasn’t going to abandon his brothers for them as well.

Youji sighs. “Yukio, do you want to know why I chose you and not Mizuki? Because I believe you’re the only one who can do this. Not just out of my own children, but out of all the children the other soldiers and doctors might bring.”

Kasamatsu eyes his father, unconvinced. Youji was not above using flattery to get what he wanted.

But his father still looks bizarrely serious, so Kasamatsu is willing to hear him out. “Those children—they’ve been through a lot. More than any child should ever go through. They’re still young enough that they _might_ be able to recover from this, but frankly, they’re also old enough that they might never be able to adapt to normal society. They _won’t_ be easy to deal with. Especially not with other children. Yukio, I think you’re the only one who has a chance of reaching them. I’m getting extra money; I’ll be able to hire a nanny for Mizuki and Ren. But I’m begging you, Yukio. These children need you.”

And Kasamatsu couldn’t tell his father no. Not if he was begging.

*

It turns out what his father meant by, “they won’t be easy to deal with” was “they are going to be complete assholes and budding psychopaths to the other kids.”

His first day on base, and over half the children the other soldiers and doctors brought have gone home in tears, swearing to never come again. The next time Kasamatsu comes, the numbers are reduced even further, until eventually only a handful remains.

It’s not just that the Miracles are absolutely _merciless_ with their taunts; they’re actually _vicious_ with their bullying. They torment the other kids with their powers; even threaten them with physical danger when the adults aren’t looking.

The doctors eventually decide separating the Miracles from each other and assigning the handful of remaining resilient children to one as the way to disrupt their “pack mentality.”

Kasamatsu gets put in Kise Ryouta’s group.

Kise, Kasamatsu knows, is his father’s favorite, so it’s probably not coincidence that Kasamatsu gets assigned to deal with him personally. Kise is in the media a lot, so Kasamatsu _knows_ he’s capable of being incredibly charming when the adults are around. But when he’s alone with the other children, he’s ruthless. After the second time Kise’s tripped one of the doctor’s kids Kasamatsu gets fed up with trying to be mature and kicks Kise viciously in the back, knocking the younger boy to the ground.

“Respect your seniors, you brat!” he yells, because Kise’s victim was older than _Kasamatsu_ for God’s sake. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you to obey your senpai?”

“ _Senpai?!”_ Kise explains incredulous. He has a stupid, dumbfounded expression as he rubs his back and looks up at Kasamatsu. It’s like he can’t believe _anyone_ would kick him, and that’s the only reason he hasn’t retaliated. Kasamatsu can hardly believe it himself. He _knows_ what Kise can do—he’s seen Kise sparring with some of the soldiers. Even though his power isn’t offensive, Kise could put Kasamatsu to the ground with just his fighting skills and not even break a sweat. “In what way are you my senpai? Just because you’re a couple years older than me? I am literally better than you in every way! Name any challenge—I could beat you in anything! Those two years are meaningless, why should I respect you for that?”

Kasamatsu grips his fists. If Kise attacks, he’s not going down without a fight. “Those two years _are_ important. I have that much longer than you that I’ve devoted to supporting the important things in life. To my family, to my school, to my basketball team. I’m your senpai in life, you brat, and you’re going to respect that if I have to beat that into you.”

Kise still had this dumbfounded look on his face, like he still can’t believe someone like Kasamatsu even _exists._

Then he grins, “Sure, sure, _Senpai._ Whatever you say. Basketball, huh? I bet I’m better than you. Wanna play basketball?”

Kasamatsu shrugs. “So what if you are better than me? It doesn’t mean squat if you don’t care about the game.”

“So you won’t play me, Senpai?”

“I didn’t say that, brat. I don’t back down from a challenge.”

They play one-on-one, the other kids watching in awed horror. Kasamatsu loses, horribly, but he never once gives up during the game.

*

It becomes routine to swing by the military base every couple weeks after basketball practice. Kasamatsu gets the feeling he’s an amusing presence for Kise—that Kise tolerates him in the same way he would an interesting monkey who could do tricks.

Kasamatsu doesn’t care. The other kids all stop coming—driven off by the horribleness and the assholery and even bribes from their parents can’t make them come back.

But Kasamatsu _refuses_ to be driven off.

“You know, Senpai, you’re the only human kid who still comes,” Kise says. He says “Senpai” mockingly, like his own private joke. “Why is that?”

“I’m not going to be scared off by a bunch of brats,” Kasamatsu explains up front.

“Hmm,” Kise says. They’re playing cards, Old Maid to be exact, because it’s one of the only games Kasamatsu can occasionally beat Kise in. (Not often, though. Kise has stupid luck when it comes to avoiding the Maid.) “I like you, Senpai,” Kise announces. “You and Kasamatsu-san are the only humans I actually _do_ like.”

Kasamatsu rolls his eyes. “My father will be so glad to hear that.”

“Your father?” Kise blinks. “Why does it matter to your dad if I like you?”

“Ask him that, I don’t know why he cares if we get along. But I _meant_ he’d be glad you like _him,_ he’s a giant dork like that.”

“That I—? _Kasamatsu-san_ is _your_ father?”

“Oi!” Kasamatsu says, and he hits Kise over the head. “Brat, don’t tell me you _forgot_ my name! I introduced myself when we met! Kasamatsu Yukio! Remember it!”

“I did remember,” Kise sulks. “Mostly. I just didn’t make the connection.”

“We even look alike! Everyone says so!” They had the same ridiculous eyebrows and the same jaw, although Kasamatsu got his mother’s eyes.

“How was I supposed to know that meant something?” Kise whines. “I didn’t know you were Kasamatsu-san’s _son._ I’d have been nicer to you from the start!”

“Don’t start being nice now, the shock will kill me,” Kasamatsu says. He puts down his last two cards. “Also, I win.”

*

Despite the fact that Kasamatsu has been coming to the base for months now, he doesn’t actually see Kise use his power until one day he was on the base and sees his father ordering his men to do laps around the base. Kasamatsu sighs, and with a running start, leaps and viciously kicks his father in the back.

“ _Yukio?_ ” his father exclaims incredulously from the ground.

“Oi, brat,” Kasamatsu growls, “Does my father know you’re using his appearance to order his men around?”

His father gapes, and then glows a bright yellow. Then it’s Kise staring up at him, baffled like that first day Kasamatsu kicked him to the ground. “How did you know it was me?” Kise demands.

“You think I can’t tell the difference between you and my own father?” Kasamatsu yells, kicking Kise again for good measure.

“Yes!” Kise yells back, holding his hands up to defend himself against Kasamatsu’s attacks. “You’re not supposed to! No one’s supposed to! My ability is _Perfect Copy_. I don’t just copy appearance, I copy mannerisms! No one can tell the difference!”

It’s because Kise sounds so honestly distressed Kasamatsu finally relents with his punishments. “Really? It wasn’t that hard.”

Kise looks outraged at this statement. “And for your information, your dad _does_ know. He told me I should test his men randomly to see if they could tell when an imposter gives them orders.”

Kasamatsu sighs heavily. Yeah, that sounds like his dad. “I bet he didn’t even tell his men that was happening.”

“So far _they_ haven’t been able to notice,” Kise sulks.

“Oh stop pouting,” Kasamatsu says. “It’s still impressive.”        

*

The next time he comes to the base a beautiful woman in a lab coat presses herself up against Kasamatsu. Large breasts heaving, she tells him how attractive she finds younger men.

Kasamatsu punches “her” in the stomach.

“Well, how did you know that time?” Kise whines, holding his stomach.

“Are you kidding me?” Kasamatsu says. “You may find this hard to believe, but beautiful woman throwing themselves at me is not exactly a regular occurrence in my daily life.” He’s gone months without ever seeing Kise use his ability, and now it’s twice in as many visits. He narrows his eyes. “Is this going to be a thing from now on?”

“This is totally going to be a thing from now on! I want to know how you do it!” Kise wails.

Kasamatsu sighs and resigns himself to his future of new ways Kise can torment him.     

*

“Who’s Kise” becomes a new game, as far as the people on base go. Kise somehow convinces all the soldiers and doctors to help him with his new and interesting way to torture Kasamatsu, so at any given moment Kasamatsu knows the person he’s talking to might be Kise.

Kasamatsu actually enjoys the game more than he thought he would. Largely because it’s the only game he’s ever played with Kise in which he overwhelmingly comes out the victor. In fact, Kise hasn’t won once yet and that’s pretty satisfying.

*

One day, in his second year at Kaijo, Kasamatsu Yukio gets a love letter in his locker. He meets his confessor after practice—an adorable First Year girl who blushes as she stammers out her confession in a cutesy soft voice.

“I’ve—I’ve always admired you, Senpai! P-please go out with me!”

Kasamatsu flushes and panics inwardly. He has no idea how to respond, he’s never been good with talking to girls, _never_. He starts out with, “Uh,” as he rubs his neck.

The girl looks up, hope shining on her face.

Kasamatsu grabs her by the collar and drags her behind a building. “How did you get off base?” he hisses. “Do they know you’re gone? How did you even get here?!”

The girl glows yellow and is replaced with a disgruntled Kise, “I almost had you that time!”

“Only because I never expected you to be here!” Kasamatsu shouts.

“I know! I thought that’s what gave you the advantage!” Kise whines. “If you always know it would happen on base, it’d be easy to guess, right? Seriously Senpai, how do you always know it’s me?”

“Do they know you’re here?” Kasamatsu asks again, ignoring the question. The last thing he needs is a dozen panicked JSDF soldiers storming Kaijo looking for their lost Miracle.

“Of course,” Kise says. “We’re not prisoners. We’re allowed to leave the base. I do modeling, remember?”

Kasamatsu relaxes. “Well leave, brat. You’re not allowed on campus unless you’re a student.”

Kise glows yellow and transforms back to the adorable First Year. “I won’t get caught, Senpai! You’re the oooonly one who ever knows it’s me all the time.”

Now that he knows it’s Kise, her cutesy voice is incredibly annoying.

“By the way, Senpai, what’s your type?”

“What?” Kasamatsu sputters. He wants to kick him, but he can’t quite bring himself to do it while he looks like an adorable girl.

“You didn’t bat an eye when I was Dr. Shimizu, so I figured the sexy mature older lady wasn’t your thing. That’s why I went with the adorable Little Sister approach! But you don’t seem into that either. So what _is_ your type? Now I’m curious.”

Kasamatsu hits him over the head. “None of your business, brat.” He flushes and hopes Kise doesn’t read too much into that. Truthfully, he’s beginning to ask _himself_ that question, since he’s been more and more aware of the other boys on the team when they take off their shirts and he’s beginning to think maybe “girls” aren’t his type after all.

“I’ll figure it out eventually,” Kise vows. “By the way, Senpai, you’re ability is definitely _not_ inherited! I pretended to be you with your father and he had no idea!”

Kasamatsu stiffens. Then forgetting entirely that Kise currently looks like a little girl and instead, focusing his rage, he punches Kise in the stomach harder than he ever has before.

Kise falls to the ground, coughing. He glows yellow again and looks up at Kasamatsu with his own golden eyes.

“Don’t _ever_ pretend to be me again!” Kasamatsu snarls.

“Senpai? What’s the big deal? You don’t care when I pretend to be other people!”

“That’s _different,”_ Kasamatsu snarls. “I’m always going to know it’s you! But don’t you dare try and trick someone with my face ever again!” He doesn’t know why the thought bothers him so much—Kise wearing his face—but it does.

Kise seems confused, but also aware that he’s done something wrong. “Fine, Senpai, I promise. I won’t pretend I’m you ever again.”

*

Kise seems to accept Kasamatsu’s won after that, and stops trying to trick him. Which is a relief, honestly, because it’s exhausting.

Dealing with Kise lately has been exhausting, largely because once puberty hit, Kise’s default interactions with humans is “flirtation” and Kasamatsu’s tired from hitting Kise all the time.

(The brat loses his virginity before Kasamatsu has so much as kissed another person. It is ridiculously unfair because he’s _fifteen_ and shouldn’t be so successful with women. “Sex is amazing, Senpai!” Kise proudly proclaims the day after it happens. “I finally understand what all the fuss is about! You should try it someti--- ow, ow, stop kicking me!”)

“I can’t help it if people adore me!” Kise whines. He bats his eyelashes at Kasamatsu. “I’m amazing at sex, Senpai. I’ve watched a lot of porn and I’ve copied _all_ the moves!”

Kasamatsu kicks him twice.

And then Kasamatsu goes _flying_. Something hits him in the stomach, throws him into a wall. Kasamatsu collapses on the ground, in more pain than he’s ever felt in his life, coughing up blood as he struggles for breath. Something yanks him up, “What are you doing to Yellow? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Aominecchi, stop!” Kise throws himself on the glowing blue figure, causing himself to lose his grip on Kasamatsu’s neck. Kasamatsu falls to the ground and again and coughs some more.

“Oh my God,” Kise says, “What is your problem?”

“He kicked you, Yellow!” the blue figure stops glowing, and Kasamatsu can see Aomine Daiki more clearly now.

“Senpai is allowed to kick me! Did you think I couldn’t stop him if I wanted to?”

“Senpai?” Aomine blinks and looks at Kasamatsu, who is only now able to breathe again. He can’t stand up yet, though. “This is Senpai? Oh man, my bad. Hey, this is hilarious. Senpai, do you know what Yellow does w—”

Kise slams Aomine again into the wall, his entire expression changing. Kasamatsu hasn’t seen Kise look like this is a long time—dangerous, no, _deadly._ Kise looks ready to murder. “Shut up, Blue. Or I swear to God, I’ll fucking kill you.”  
Aomine’s expression shifts and he sneers, “I’d like to see you try, Yellow. The only one who can beat me is me.”

“Stop it! Stop it, both of you!” A pink haired girl pushes her way to the front. “We _swore._ We swore we wouldn’t call each other that anymore! Stop fighting!”

“Sorry, Satsuki.”

“Sorry, Momoicchi.”

Momoi stomps her foot on the ground. “Apologize to each other!”

A light blue haired boy crouches in front of Kasamatsu. “Are you alright, Kasamatsu-senpai?”

The kid looks vaguely familiar, but Kasamatsu can’t place him amongst the Miracles. “Have we met?”

“Yes, Kasamatsu-senpai. A couple times now.”

“I don’t remember you at all,” he confesses. He feels dizzy from the pain.

“That is alright, Kasamatsu-senpai. It takes people a couple of times before they do. Can you stand?”

That’s a good question. Kasamatsu tries but hisses in pain.

“Senpai?” Kise says in alarm. “Aominecchi, if you’ve hurt him, I swear—”

“We should take you to see a doctor,” blue-haired kid says, ignoring his squabbling friends. “Aomine-kun hit you at full speed, you might be bleeding internally. Murasakibara-kun, will you help?”

“Eeeh,” Murasakibara protests. “How bothersome.”

“Please,” blue-haired kid says.

And that’s how Kasamatsu ends up being princess carried to the military nurse’s office by a purple-haired boy two years his junior. This is quite possibly the most embarrassing moment of Kasamatsu’s life.

*

A couple X-rays later and the nurse declares him fine. “No cracked ribs or internal bleeding,” she declares cheerfully. “You were lucky, though, Yukio-kun! A couple inches to the right and you might have been in serious trouble.”

Kasamatsu doesn’t think nurses should sound so cheerful when discussing his near death experience. He is glad nothing’s broken, even if he feels like he’s been hit by a cannon. He doesn’t want to miss basketball practice.

The nurse grows serious. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and says, “You know, Yukio-kun, I’ve wanted to talk to you for awhile. I just wanted you to know, I think what you’re doing is amazing.”

“Eh?” Kasamatsu says. He doesn’t think he’s done anything amazing lately.

“Coming here like you do. You’re the only one of the children who still comes, you know that right?”

“Yeah,” Kasamatsu says.

“I brought my own son. He’s the same age as them—I’d hoped—ahhh, but he gave up after a month and swore never to come back. He’s such a stubborn child! So unfeeling!”

“I’m not doing anything special,” Kasamatsu says, blushing.

The nurse looks sad. “That’s what’s so great. You’re treating them like they’re normal. So, Yukio-kun, I understand if you don’t want to come by after what happened today. I know they’re dangerous, but—”

“Whoa,” Kasamatsu says, “I never said I’d stop coming! This isn’t going to scare me away.”

She touches his cheek and smiles. “You’re such a good boy.”

*

The nurse leaves to get more bandages, and Kasamatsu reclines on the bed.

It never occurred to him before, but he doesn’t interact with the other Miracles. Only Kise. At first, when they were trying to separate the Miracles to improve their social interactions with normal kids, it made sense. But since Kasamatsu’s the only one who still comes, he doesn’t know why he doesn’t see the others more often.

Kise bursts into the nurse’s room. “Senpai! Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” Kasamatsu says. “I hate to admit it, but he was probably holding back.”

Kise scowls. “I’m sorry Aominecchi overreacted.”

Kasamatsu shrugs. “He was standing up for his friend. I get that. Hey, why _haven’t_ we hung out with them more often? They’re your friends, right?”

“They’re not nice like me,” Kise says breezily. “Look, you’re injured after a few seconds! They could _hurt_ you, Senpai!”

“But—”

“And anyway, they could have made their own friends, but they didn’t. Are you sure you’re fine? Aominecchi hits hard, I should know.”

“I’m fine,” Kasamatsu rubs his stomach. “Why’d you call him Blue? And why’d he call you Yellow?” And why had Momoi seemed so angry when they had? Kasamatsu doesn’t ask that final question, because Kise’s face falls. Kasamatsu regrets asking anything.

But then Kise smiles prettily. “You didn’t know? That was my name.”

And then Kise starts taking off his pants.

Kasamatsu jumps out of the bed. “What are you doing?” he sputters.

“Relax, Senpai,” Kise says cheekily. “I’m just answering your question. I’m going to show you something very few humans have ever seen before!”

“I don’t want to see it!” Kasamatsu sputters, blushing furiously.

Kise hops on the bed that Kasamatsu’s left and shucks off his pants. He smiles coyly up at Kasamatsu and with the languid practice of a teenage model he spreads his legs in a relaxed pose.

Kasamatsu starts to yell but his voice freezes as he catches sight of what it is that Kise’s showing him. For a second, he loses the ability to process information.

On the inside of Kise’s upper thigh is a brand:

**GM-Y626**

It’s burned into his flesh, as if he was a cow.

“We didn’t have names before we came to the base. Your Dad’s the one who named me ‘Kise Ryouta,’ by the way,” Kise says softly. “We just had designations. My designation is Yellow 626.  ‘Yellow Six’ was my genetic group—the ones with the Perfect Copy power. I was the twenty-sixth experiment in that grouping. It was a relatively new Group! It only took them twenty-six times to create the perfect model! Senpai, Senpai, you don’t need to look like that.”

“I’m not—” Kasamatsu’s aware that he probably looks like he wants to cry. He rubs at his eyes furiously, to make sure he doesn’t cry. Kise speaks so matter-of- fact about what he’d been through. Says all these horrible things like it’s perfectly normal. It wouldn’t be so sad, if Kise didn’t seem so nonchalant. “It—it looks like it was painful.”

“Probably was,” Kise says cheerfully. “But they did it when we were really young, so I don’t remember it at all. They regretted marking me, though. It’s the one thing that always remains in all my Copies. I’m only telling _you_ this, Senpai, because you can always tell it’s me anyway. But don’t tell anyone else, OK Senpai? It’s my one vulnerability.”

Kasamatsu steps forward. He doesn’t have the words to express what he’s feeling. Horror, sadness, some overwhelming sense of tragedy. It’s been almost two years since he met Kise, and he’s just now realizing he doesn’t know him at all.

Kise grips his wrist. “Want to touch it, Senpai? It’s really not so bad.” He draws Kasamatsu’s hand in close and Kasamatsu can’t pull it away; it’s like he’s hypnotized.

And then a loud squawk startles both of them, causing them to look up and see a flustered and slightly outraged nurse shouting, “What is going on here?”

And that’s when Kasamatsu realizes he’s standing in between the legs of a fifteen year old boy with no pants on.

He jumps out of reach like Kise’s on fire and sputters, “It’s not what it looks like!”

Kise laughs so hard he falls off the bed.

*

“It really wasn’t what it looked like!” Kasamatsu wails into his hands as his dad drives him home.

“Don’t be so embarrassed, Yukio! It’s the time of your life! Youth! First love! Forbidden romance! Ah, I remember it well.”

His dad is enjoying this too much. “I think you should be a little more concerned about the fact that we’re both guys,” Kasamatsu growls. He’s not entirely sure he’s figured out his sexuality yet, but it _does_ seem like his father should be alarmed.

“Don’t be silly, Yukio. Your mother was quite the fangirl. I know all about yaoi.”

“Oh my God,” Kasamatsu buries his head under his shirt and hopes he can suffocate himself. “No, Dad. No.”

“And I think Ryouta would make an excellent son-in-law! A little young now, Yukio, but good taste!”

“Shut up, stupid father!” Kasamatsu yells. “Never, it would absolutely never be Kise, you let _that_ thought go right now.” He slouches into his seat. “Kise was showing me his… designation.”

“Ah,” Youji sobers. “Ryouta must really trust you, Yukio. All of the kids are really sensitive about their designations. They don’t like anyone seeing them.”

“He said you’re the one who named him,” Kasamatsu says.

“Hmm. They were calling each other ‘Yellow’ and ‘Green’ so I was the first one to come up with incorporating the colors into their last names. The doctors who picked the names followed my example. I regret that now. I wish they could leave everything from the past behind them.”

GM-Y626. Kise has his past branded into his skin. There’s probably no chance he can ever move on from that.

*

Kasamatsu forgets all about the blue haired kid until he sees him again the next time he visits. Then it comes back to him and he feels embarrassed he forgot. “Thanks for the other day. Sorry, you said we’ve met before?”

“I am Kuroko Tetsuya. Yes, we have met before. Do not feel bad, Kasamatsu-senpai. My Latent Overflow makes me very forgettable. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just bruised.” The kid doesn’t look like the other Miracles Kasamatsu has seen. He’s tiny, for one thing. Scrawny and pale and completely unthreatening.

“I am glad,” Kuroko says. “I was not sure you’d still come.”

Kasamatsu shrugs. “It takes a lot to frighten me.”

“Senpai! There you are—Kurokocchi, what are you doing here?”

“Saying hello,” Kuroko says. “I am leaving now.”

“You don’t have to go,” Kasamatsu says.

“Yes he does, Kurokocchi is a very busy person,” Kise says.

Kasamatsu watches him leave. “Man, he is _really_ forgettable.”

“So you _don’t_ remember him,” Kise sounds delighted. “I thought you might, since you seem immune to me.”

“That’s his thing? Being forgettable?”

“Kinda. It’s hard to explain. Kurokocchi is the one person I can’t Copy though, it’s annoying.” Kise doesn’t sound annoyed, though. He sounds pleased and impressed with his friend.

“You must like him a lot,” Kasamatsu says.

“I do!” Kise says excitedly. “Kurokocchi is the best! He’s the nicest and he never once picked on me. Glad you came back, Senpai! Want to play some basketball?”

*

“Kurokocchi is the best” is a running theme in a lot of Kise’s conversations. Kasamatsu gets the feeling Kise’s probably mentioned this before, only to be forgotten.

It’s a little adorable, since Kise’s never seemed like he cared all that much for other people.

“What is with you and Kuroko anyway?” Kasamatsu asks one day. “You sound like you’re in love with the guy.”

“Love?” Kise blinks, looking taken aback. “You mean—like in those movies and dramas Momoicchi watches?”

“Yeah,” Kasamatsu says, “Probably.”

Kise quiets, and looks like the thought has never occurred to him before. “Senpai,” Kise ventures in a hesitant voice, “Do you think I’m capable of love?”

“What?” Kasamatsu asks. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

“It was on the News once. A woman was saying the Miracles didn’t have souls because we were created in a lab, so we couldn’t fall in love or feel things like humans do or get into heaven when we die—”

Kasamatsu hits Kise over the head, “Of course you have souls! Don’t be an idiot! And don’t watch trash like that! You’re as human as I am.”

Kise holds the back of his head but he’s smiling. “Really? You think so? Then—how do you know if you’re in love?”

Kasamatsu blushes, because he’s never even had a girlfriend (or a boyfriend) before, how is he supposed to know what love is like? But he feels as Kise’s self-proclaimed senpai in life that he should answer the question. “You—you want to spend all your time with that person, because they make you happy.”

“Really?” Kise perks up. “So—is that like when you don’t want anyone else to talk to the person, and you don’t want them looking at anyone but you, and when they talk about anyone else it makes you mad? Is that love?”

“Sounds like jealousy,” Kasamatsu says. “That’s part of love, yeah.”

“Jealousy? Like when your wife sleeps with the delivery man after she had amnesia, and you have to hunt him down because he’s blackmailing you?”

“You watch those dramas with Momoi, don’t you? But yes.”

“Then,” Kise says eagerly. “Is it love when you think about a person all the time, and you masturbate all the time thinking about them—”

“Gah! _I don’t need to hear that!”_

“—And you kinda want to lock them up in a room and keep them forever with you so they never leave your side or look at anyone else again? Is it like that?”

“That, uh, sounds obsessive. Don’t lock up the person you love.”

“Really?” Kise looks disappointed. “Why not?”

“Because they’ll hate you if you do!”

“Oh,” Kise’s face falls.

“But yeah. Sounds like you’ve got it bad,” Kasamatsu says. It also sounds like a felony waiting to happen. Maybe he’ll warn Kuroko to be careful, the next time he sees him.

Kise narrows his eyes and asks, “Have _you_ ever been in love, Senpai?”

Kasamatsu kicks him behind the knees. “None of your business, brat.”

*

And this is Kasamatsu Yukio’s life. He doesn’t expect things to change much while he’s in high school.

But of course things change. And when the do, of course it’s because of his father. And Kise.

It’s a surprisingly relaxed day in the Kasamatsu household. His father has the day off, and he takes his sons out to watch a ball game, and when they come home, Kasamatsu makes dinner.

He should have known his father was planning something. Youji never just spends time with his sons anymore.

It’s through the course of dinner that Youji drops his bombshell.

“The JSDF is planning on sending the Miracles to high school this year.”

Kasamatsu spits out his drink. “Are you joking?! Please tell me you’re joking.”

Youji has a mild expression on his face. “No, I’m completely serious.”

“Regular high school? With actual students?” Kasamatsu attempts to clarify, since surely that’s not what his father means.

“I don’t know why you’re overreacting like this, Yukio. You know the Miracles better than anyone else.”

“That’s why I’m reacting like this!” Kasamatsu shouts. “Have you forgotten the _last_ time you tried to ‘socialize’ the Miracles with normal kids? It was a complete failure!”

“It wasn’t a complete failure,” Youji says. And then he looks pointedly at his oldest son.

“Are you talking about _me?”_ Kasamatsu exclaims. “You think just because _I_ still go, they’re all ready to go to a normal high school?! I don’t even talk to most of them! I only see Kise!”

Youji sighs. “They’ve come a long way these past three years. We’re not going to send them all to the same school. They’ve agreed to go to separate schools and live with host families.”

“Why?” Kasamatsu says, baffled.

“They can’t live on a military base forever,” Youji says. “They have to learn how to interact with people their own age and function in society. This decision has been in progress for some time now.”

“So why are you telling us this now?” Kasamatsu asks. But he knows why. He knew as soon as his father said “host families.”

“Well, I thought, if it was alright with the three of you, Ryouta could come here and live with us. He’ll be going to Kaijo when the school year starts.”

Of course he was. Kasamatsu resists the urge to bang his head against the table.

“Where will he stay?” Mizuki asks. “We don’t have enough rooms.”

Oh _hell_ no.

“No,” Kasamatsu says, just as his father says, “He’ll share Yukio’s room.”

“ _No,”_ Kasamatsu says again, louder.

“So,” Ren says, scrunching up his nose. “It will be like having another brother?”

“No!”

“It’ll be _just_ like having another brother!” Youji says.

“No, it _won’t!”_ Kasamatsu yells.

“So, you guys are fine with it?” Youji asks his younger sons.

Mizuki shrugs. “Sure, I’ve always wanted to meet a Miracle.”

“I wish he was younger,” Ren says. “I want a younger brother. But another older brother is cool too.”

“Can anyone hear me? This is a terrible idea!” Kasamatsu yells.

“That’s great!” Youji exclaims. “He’ll move in this Saturday. You two, clean up the table.”

Then Kasamatsu does bang his head against the table.

*

After Mizuki and Ren go to bed, his father comes to find him.

“Are you really against this?” he asks. “I thought you liked Ryouta.”

Kasamatsu sighs.

The thing is, he does like Kise. Kise’s like a hyperactive, vaguely sociopathic little brother. Kasamatsu always feels the need to take care of him, like he does with Mizuki and Ren.

But he’s never quite shaken the feeling that Kise views him as something like an interesting pet. He has never once got the sense that Kise actually _likes_ people. He’s charming and flirty and by far the best at socializing with normal humans out of all the Miracles. But it’s a façade; Kasamatsu knows this better than anyone. _None_ of the Miracles think of normal humans as their equals. They don’t leave the base, not because they are kept there, but because they don’t _want_ to.

And now they’re going to school? _His_ school?

“Why do you want this so badly?” he asks instead of answering. “I can’t believe the JSDF actually thinks this is a good idea.”

Youji sighs. He seems old, in that moment. “Because those children deserve better.”

Kasamatsu waits for more of an explanation.

“They didn’t have a childhood. Yukio, there’s just so much you don’t know about them. They deserve a chance to be—not normal, I guess. I know they can never be normal. But they deserve a chance to _choose_ their own future, like any other high school student. They deserve to see what else is out there for them. And they won’t even be able to learn that unless they leave the base and meet _other_ kids.”

Kasamatsu doesn’t say anything for a long time. He thinks about GM-Y626. He thinks about a lot of things.

Finally, he says, “I’m eighteen now, Dad. I’m going to be a Third Year in high school. The Coach wants me to be Captain of the team.”

“Yes?” Youji says, sounding confused. “What’s your point?”

“My point is, I’m not a child anymore. I’m responsible—I’ve taken care of my brothers _and_ Kise Ryouta, while keeping up with my studies and club activities.”

“I know how responsible you are, Yukio,” his father says quietly.

“So I think its time you told me what happened that night you went back to Teiko Industries.”

There is another long silence. Youji closes his eyes. He looks old and tired and sober as the dead.

Kasamatsu does not relent. “It’s time you told me _everything_. You want Kise to live with us, with _me._ I need to know what we’re dealing with.”

Youji opens up his eyes and lets out a breath. “Yes. You’re right. Its time I told you everything.”

And so he does.

*

Kasamatsu lies awake at night. It is impossible to sleep.

He feels sick. He’s surprised he hasn’t thrown up yet. He feels a million years older. Like he’ll never be able to view the world the same way again.

“You must never tell _anyone_ this,” his father said. “You must _swear,_ Yukio.”

So he swore.

He thinks, at the end of it, that he’s actually not all that surprised. The only truly surprising thing from all this is that the JSDF is still so willing to let the Miracles interact with people.

He thinks about Kise. He wonders if knowing changes things, changes Kise.

He decides it does not. Kise is Kise. One of Kasamatsu’s responsibilities. Maybe even his friend. And when high school starts, his kouhai.

*

“You’re truly my senpai now, Senpai!” Kise twirls in Kaijo’s uniform, practically skipping his way to school.

“I was always your senpai,” Kasamatsu growls.

“But now for real!” Kise says. He has been unnaturally happy ever since he moved in to Kasamatsu’s room. Kasamatsu wouldn’t have guessed it, but Kise seems genuinely excited by the prospect of going to school with normal people.

“And now we can spend all day together!” Kise says.

“No we can’t, you’re in a different year, brat,” Kasamatsu says.

“What?” Kise says, stilling.

“You’ll be with the First Year Class,” Kasamatsu says, rolling his eyes. “I’ll be with the Third Year Class. We probably won’t even see each other all that often.”

“What?” Kise exclaims, dismayed. “But—after school, right? We can hang out after school and walk home together?”

“After school I have club activities,” Kasamatsu reminds him.

“Then I’ll join the basketball club!” Kise declares.

“Oi, brat, don’t be—” then he stops as he considers this. Kise is _damned_ good at basketball. He’d be a real asset to Kaijo’s team. Miracles couldn’t play in official games yet, but that could change. The physical advantages they get from Latent Overflow were definitely advantages but they weren’t necessarily _inhuman_ ones. If they allowed them to play without powers…

The possibilities were endless. Kaijo could have an undefeatable team!  
“Yeah, OK,” he says. “But you have to take practice seriously.”

Kise brightens. “I will, Senpai! I promise! I’ll be the best basketball player ever! You won’t regret this!”

Kasamatsu vaguely regrets it already.


	3. Chapter 3

Takao Kazunari has nothing but painful memories regarding his middle school years.

It starts with Midorima Shintarou and the other Miracles. Takao knows he can’t hold Midorima responsible for _everything_ that went wrong in middle school. But since it started with him, Takao can’t help but blame him for everything else that happened anyway.

It originally begins with Takao’s mother, a nurse who works with the JSDF. She volunteers her son to help socialize the Miracles. It _should_ be fun; young Takao thinks it will be fun. He gets to hang out with superpowered kids! How cool is that? It’s like living in a manga!

How naive he was.

Their first day, the soldiers suggest they play a game of basketball. Takao _likes_ basketball. He even thinks he has some skill at it.

His team—the human team—is thoroughly crushed. Takao watches in awe as Midorima sinks three pointer after three pointer like he’s not even trying.

“It’s not fair if you use your powers!” one kid says.

“We’re not, fools,” Midorima says haughtily.

“It’s not our fault we’re just _better_ that you,” Aomine declares.

“This is boring, basketball is boring,” Murasakibara says. “It’s way too easy.”

And that’s what is probably the most crushing out of the whole traumatic experience—the fact that the game Takao loves and has worked hard at comes ridiculously easy to these people.

*

Takao comes back because his mom tells ( _orders_ ) him to give them another chance. A lot of kids do not return.

The soldiers, sensing they’ve gone about this “socializing” process the wrong way, separate the Miracles from each other and assign the returning volunteers to one Miracle.

Takao ends up in Midorima Shintarou’s group.

“This is absurdly stupid,” Midorima sneers. “I do not see why I must socialize with people far beneath me in every way.”

“We’re doing this as a _favor,_ ” an older boy says. “It’s not like we _want_ to be here. You should thank us.”

“For what?” Midorima says in that haughty manner of his.

“Now, now,” Takao says, trying to keep the peace. He doesn’t want to be here _either,_ but he doesn’t want a fight to break out. “Let’s try to be friends.”

“Friends?” Midorima says, sounding appalled.

Takao rolls his eyes. “Let’s be _friendly,_ then. We can play a game!”

“There is not a single game we could play in which I would not defeat you.”

 _Man_ this guy was annoying. And _weird._ Why was he holding an alarm clock?

“We can play tag!” Takao suggests.

“We’re not children!” The older boy sneers. Takao is so over all of this.

“How does one play?” Midorima asks, pushing up his glasses.

Seriously? He’s never played tag before? “We’ll play it with a twist. Someone gets to be the Oni, and the rest of us run away from him,” Takao explains. “The Oni has to catch us and tag us and then if we’re tagged, we become Onis too and chase after the others.”

“You can be the Oni first!” the older boy with the bad attitude tells Midorima.

“ _I’ll_ be the Oni first,” Takao says.

“Who wins?” Midorima asks.   

“The last person who remains a person,” Takao says. “Then we start over.”

“This sounds like a pointless endeavor,” Midorima says. Takao is _this_ close to giving up and just going home. “But fine. I will play your childish game.”

Takao rolls his eyes again. “Thank you _so_ much. OK people, I’m counting to twenty. Scatter.”

Takao actually always preferred being the Oni. He’d rather be searching then hiding. He’s always been pretty good at finding people.

He catches and tags the first two people really easily. It’s good to have more Oni on his side, because now he can concentrate on his true target: Midorima. There’s no _way_ Takao’s letting that guy be the last person standing. (Bad Attitude is his next target. Assholes must be punished.)

Midorima is actually really easy to find—he’s a tall green haired kid, there’s not a lot of places in the designated area where he can hide. _Catching_ him is a different story, since he sees Takao and sprints away.

He’s _fast._ But not, Takao is delighted to realize, inhumanly so. Takao can catch up. He chases after Midorima and reaches out his arm—

And trips.

He collapses, falling on top of Midorima in the process. The two go tumbling down, and somehow end up with Takao on top of Midorima’s chest.

Takao pulls himself up, and ends up face to face with Midorima. “Sorry—”

His breath hitches. This close and he’s struck by the sudden thought that Midorima is ridiculously attractive. His body is pressed up against Midorima’s and Takao realizes he _likes_ the contact. _A lot._ The sudden realization strikes Takao like lightning and he feels stunned. _Oh, I’m gay._

The Midorima shoves him away—painfully flinging him to the ground. “Don’t touch me!” Midorima sounds panicked and horrified. He wipes down his clothes like he’s trying to get rid of Takao’s germs. “Don’t come near me. This is disgusting.”

Takao, on the ground, has never felt so thoroughly repulsive in his life.

“You’re an Oni, now,” Takao says, trying to swallow down the hurt and the rejection. “You’re going to have to touch a lot of people.”

“I refuse. This is dumb. I don’t want to play anymore.” Midorima storms away.

Takao stays on the ground for longer than is strictly necessary.

*

After that, Takao stops coming to the base, no matter how much his mother attempts to change his mind.

He recognizes that it’s not exactly Midorima’s fault that Takao’s personal sexual awakening has been entwined with feelings of rejection and inferiority. But at the same time, Midorima Shintarou comes to represent everything Takao wants but will never have: effortless skill at basketball, good looks, height. It would be weird if Takao _didn’t_ come to resent him for that. Midorima becomes Takao’s personal enemy, the demon that haunts his psyche at night.

*

Middle school is not a good time for Takao, and that isn’t Midorima’s fault, but Takao likes blaming him for it.

Once Takao’s realized that he’s gay it seems pointless to hide it. His mom doesn’t seem all that surprised when he tells her and his little sister couldn’t care less.

He’s not an _idiot,_ though. It’s not like he announces it to everyone at school. He just doesn’t bother denying it, if asked.

*

He gets a boyfriend his Second Year, Sawada Hiro. Sawada is in the basketball club, very tall, wears glasses, (because apparently Takao has a type) but also deeply closeted.

That should have been Takao’s first clue that this was going to end badly, but he was young and naïve. (He knows better, now).

Takao learns the finer nuances of lust with Sawada, and things go pretty well up until the day someone walks in on them making out in a supply closet. (Oh, the irony.)

Sawada immediately shoves Takao away—pushing him hard to the ground. Takao experiences confusion and the painful sense of déjà vu as Sawada yells, “Don’t touch me, fag! I’m not like that!”

*

And of course, the next day the whole school knows Takao attacked Sawada with his sexual deviancy. Sawada spends a great deal of time loudly proclaiming how disgusting it all was, how it came out of no where, how you can’t trust Takao not to try and kiss _you_ if you’re not on guard.

Takao glares at him and thinks, _Your hand’s been on my dick so many times. I’ve had your cock in my mouth and you liked it. I could_ ruin _you._

But Takao believes that if someone’s given you a handjob you shouldn’t drag them under the bus, even after they’ve pushed you in front of one.

So he laughs instead. He laughs at the insults, he laughs at everything. Ha ha, that Takao. He’s a weird one, what can you do?

*

At basketball club, he stops laughing.

“I don’t want to change in front of you,” their shooting guard says, “You go somewhere else, Takao.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Harada,” Takao says, rolling his eyes, “There’s no one on this Earth who wants to see you naked.”

“Harada’s right,” the captain says, “You shouldn’t be here, Takao.”

Takao clenches his fists and thinks, _I’m a Point Guard. A_ good _Point Guard. The best one this school has. What does my sexuality have to do with basketball?_

He laughs instead, “Fine, fine, boys you win. You’re missing out, though, I’m way prettier with my shirt off than anyone else here.”

*

Things are strained after that. Takao should quit the club but he can’t. ( _Won’t.)_

But there’s not much you can do when the team doesn’t trust the point guard. They win some games, and lose a lot more.

Then one day in his third year a rumor goes around that Takao was making out with someone on the opposing team (which was true) and that he made them lose on purpose because of sexual favors (which was false. Takao and the Power Forward didn’t hook up until after the game was over.)

No one wants to hear his explanations though.

The basketball club jumps him after practice.

*

He fights back. He gets some good hits in too, because he’s small and has no problem fighting dirty.

But he never really had a chance.

*

His mom patches him up—it’s handy having a nurse for a mom sometimes. Nothing’s broken, so Takao supposes he got off easy.

“Do you want to transfer schools?” she asks.

Takao shrugs. “No. What’s the point? It’s my third year. I’ll be in high school soon enough.”

She hesitates. “Are you going back to the club?”

Takao snorts. “No. I’m stubborn, not an idiot.”

He is a good Point Guard. He’s already had some scouting offers from high schools. Even if they withdraw the offer after he quits the club, he can still get in on merit.

His mother sighs. “Listen, Kazunari, there is so much unkindness in this world. People can be so cruel. But don’t ever stop believing in them, OK? And don’t let the cruel one’s change you.”

He’d feel better about these words of wisdom if he didn’t suspect this had something to do with the Miracles.

*

His mother never stops trying to convince him to go back to the base. Once, she gets fed up and says, “Why can’t you be like Kasamatsu Yukio?”

“Kasamatsu Yukio?” Takao says, confused. “From Kaijo? What’s he got to do with the Miracles?”

Takao Nobuko seems surprised her son recognizes the name. “He’s Sergeant Kasamatsu’s son. He comes to visit the Miracles every two weeks. He’s such a nice boy! Just the other day—”

“ _Kasamatsu Yukio_ goes to the base? _Kaijo’s_ Kasamatsu Yukio?” Takao says excitedly. “When? Can I go meet him?”

“No, you can not!” Nobuko snaps. “That would be so rude to the other children! How do you even know him?”

“He’s a nationally ranked Point Guard!” Takao exclaims enthusiastically, “He appeared in _Basketball Monthly_ a few issues back. He’s _amazing._ He’s number three on my list of Top Five High School Basketball Players I would fu—date in a heartbeat—”

“No. You can’t come to the base. I’ve changed my mind.”

“But _Mom_ —”

She glares at him. “I don’t understand what you have against the Miracles. I would have thought _you_ of all people would know what it’s like to be different.”

Takao gapes at her. “Are you seriously comparing being gay to being a mutant?”

“Well, yes—”

“For your information,” Takao interrupts haughtily. “I never hated them because they were mutants. I hate them because they are terrible human beings with awful personalities.”

Nobuko sighs. “Kazu-chan, you can be so unfeeling sometimes.”

“If you give me Kasamatsu’s phone number, I will totally go to the base and be nice for a day,” Takao bargains.

“No,” his mother instantly refuses.

“And you call _me_ unfeeling.”

*

Takao hopes high school will be different. He gets into Shutoku, King of the East. He joins the basketball club and this time, he makes certain vows of celibacy. At least in regards to dating fellow players.

The captain tells him to stay after practice on the first day. “Takao Kazunari, yeah? You went to Keiho Middle.”

Takao stiffens. “Yeah?”

Otsubo looks at him gravely. “I heard about you from a kouhai.  I just want you to know we don’t tolerate that sort of thing at Shutoku.”    

Takao swallows. He doesn’t trust himself not to cry if he starts talking, so he doesn’t say anything, and stands very still.

Otsubo claps him on the shoulder. “So if anyone hassles you, come tell me right away, OK? Or one of the other Third Years. If you’re in this club, you’re part of our team, and we look after our own.”

He moves away and Takao remains frozen. He’s pretty sure he still wants to cry, but for different reasons.

*

Of course, this new basketball club doesn’t make up for the sight of a two meter tall boy with green hair and glasses sitting in his classroom.

“What is Midorima doing in my class?” Takao demands, as soon as he sees his mom.

“Oh? Is in your class? How lucky!”

“ _Mom!”_

“Honestly, Kazu-chan, you should have known that it would be a possibility, since he was going to your school.”

Takao flails. “And why is he going to my school?”

Nobuko blinks. “You can’t be serious. Have you not been paying attention to the News?”

“Of course not! I’m sixteen! Are they _all_ going to my school?”

“No, don’t be silly. They’re all going to different schools. Only Shintarou-kun is going to Shutoku.”

Takao has no idea what to say to this since as far as he’s concerned, Midorima’s the worst one, so this isn’t much of a consolation.  “And you didn’t think to _tell_ me this?”

“I thought you knew!”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“I knew!” Ayumi says cheerfully.

Takao glares at his little sister. “You did not!”

“I did so! Nao-chan told me! Midorima-san is going to be her new big brother and she’s really excited!”

“ _What?”_

“Dr. Kishitani volunteered to host Shintarou-kun while he attends high school,” Nobuko says primly. “Which is a great thing for both of them. He’s always wanted a son and Shintarou-kun has an interest in medicine. He’s such a smart boy!”

Takao flops down on the floor. He gives up on life.

“Ne, Kazu-chan? If he’s in your class, do you think you can be friends with him?”

Takao pulls himself up. “No, Mom. I don’t think I can.”

She huffs. “You can at least be nice to him every now and then.”

Takao shakes his head, vetoing this as well. “Mom, come on. Do you seriously think he wants someone hanging around him just because his mom asked him to? I know I wouldn’t.”

Nobuko sighs, seeing reason at last. “Can you at least promise me one thing?”

“That depends,” he says, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Promise me you’ll never be mean to him.”

Takao scowls. And maybe this is another reason why he has always resented Midorima Shintarou; the fact that Takao’s own mother always seemed to side with him. She always seemed to hint that Midorima deserved kindness more than anyone else, like his suffering made him special.

“OK, Mom. I promise if I can’t say anything nice, I won’t say anything at all.”

*

So Takao ignores Midorima. A task made easy by the fact that Midorima seems to have _completely forgotten_ Takao’s existence. (He berates himself: what did you expect? To leave a lasting expression on him? You were nothing, you always knew you were nothing to him.)

He has his basketball club and a flirtation with someone in the kendo club. High School, so far, is a vast improvement over middle school.

*

The flirtation turns into Takao’s second boyfriend, and things are progressing smoothly. He vows to be more careful this time—no more making out in supply closets—but he feels more optimistic about things on a whole.

Until one day he reaches out to hold Yamamoto’s hand and his boyfriend flinches and instantly pulls away.

Takao freezes and wonders why this keeps happening to him.

“Sorry, Takao,” Yamamoto mutters, looking away. “I just don’t think we should, here.”

Here at school? Here in broad daylight?

At least he’s still standing this time. He sighs. “Yamamoto, I like you, but I swore I was done with closeted guys.”

“I’m not in the closet,” Yamamoto protests. “I just don’t think we need to be so open about things, OK?”         

Takao breaks up with him anyway.

He just wants someone who’s not ashamed to be seen with him—is that so much to ask?

*

Not having a boyfriend frees up a lot of his time, and he devotes it all to improving his basketball. Otsubo tells him he can probably be a starter, and he wants to prove that he deserves the spot.

He stays late after practice, far later than anyone else.

Later, Takao will find a certain kind of irony in this; if he hadn’t cared so much about basketball, he might have spent his entire high school career Midorima-free. (Maybe _irony_ is the wrong word, but it’s definitely a cosmic joke of some sort.)

He forgets something in the classroom, and heads back after one of his long practices.

He opens the classroom door to a scene from _The Exorcist—_ objects flying around everywhere like angry ghosts.

“What the—?” he shouts, dodging.

It would be easy to duck back out and run like hell, except he’s pretty sure he knows what’s causing the ghosts.

He steps into the center of the storm and sure enough, there’s a green glowing figure huddled under the desk.

“Are you crazy?” Takao yells. “Stop this!”

Everything immediately crashes to the ground as Midorima stops glowing.

Takao opens his mouth to yell some more, but his voice dies in his throat.

Something isn’t right. Midorima is still huddled under his desk, and he’s shaking all over, like he’s _terrified._ He clutches what looks like a round wooden block in his hands, and only then does Takao notice his hands are bleeding.

“Oi,” Takao rushes forward. “What’s wrong?”

He moves to pull at Midorima’s hands but the other boy jerks back and snarls, “Don’t touch me!”

Takao sighs. Just like old times. “You’re _bleeding,_ ” Takao points out. “Is that glass? Are you holding broken glass? _Why_ are you holding broken glass?”

Midorima shakes and Takao finally notices that the other boy is _crying._

“It was my lucky item,” Midorima says jerkily. “They _broke_ it.”

“Who did?” Takao asks. He tries to remember what ridiculous item Midorima carried with him today but he can’t.

“The Judo Club. They broke my item and I can’t—I can’t—” Midorima sobs again, burying his head in his knees. He starts glowing again and a desk goes flying and hits the wall.

Takao jumps, his heart thumping so fast he thinks it’s going to explode.

“I can’t go out. They’ll get me, they’ll put me back there. I don’t want to go back there. I don’t want to, please, please—”

Takao sits back, heart still thundering. Midorima sounds _gone_. Like he’s a million miles away. Worse still, he sounds incredibly _young._ And so, so scared.

_Promise me you won’t be mean to him._

Takao silently curses his mother. _Fine Mom, you win._

“What was it?” he asks.

Midorima lifts his head up. “What?”

“What was your lucky item for the day? I’ll get you a new one.”

Midorima shudders and looks away, his hands digging deeper into the wooden block. “It was a snow globe.”

“OK. Snow globe. Got it. Wait here—don’t break anymore things! I’ll be back.” He takes off running.

*

He bikes to three different stores before he finds what he’s looking for in a gas station. It’s one of those small plastic ones tourists buy. It has a crude mockery of Tokyo Tower inside with “TOKYO” scrawled on the bottom in English. He buys the snow globe and some bandages and bikes back to school.

His heart has never stopped beating fast. There is a dangerous sense of urgency that never leaves him—the feeling that if he doesn’t hurry with his task something terrible will happen.

*

He finds Midorima right where he left him—huddled under a desk. Thankfully, objects have stopped flying everywhere.

“I found one!” he says triumphantly.

Midorima doesn’t seem to process his existence. Even after he drops the plastic globe into Midorima’s hand (careful not to touch him the whole time), Midorima just grips the globe and doesn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong now?” Takao exclaims. “Don’t tell me a plastic one’s no good? You will not believe how hard it was just to find that one!”

“Plastic is fine,” Midorima says, gripping his new snow globe to his chest.

“Your hands are still bleeding. I think there’s glass in them. I brought bandages, but you might have to see a doctor to get the glass out.”

“No need,” Midorima says. He puts the snow globe in his lap and holds out his hands. He glows green again and small glass shards float delicately out of his hands. The bandages fly out of Takao’s grips and begin wrapping around Midorima’s hands. After Midorima is done bandaging himself, everything in the room starts flying once more, only this time to their proper place. In a matter of seconds, the room is put back together again, as if nothing was ever wrong.

Takao whistles, impressed. “Man, that must be super handy for when it’s time to clean your room.”

“My room is never dirty,” Midorima says haughtily.

He stands up and brushes off his clothes. He grips the plastic snow globe tightly, like he’s afraid it’s going to go somewhere. “You came back.”

“I said I would,” Takao says, vaguely irritated.

“I didn’t think you would.”

A snappy retort is on the tip of his tongue, but he holds back. Midorima has the air of an affronted cat.

When Takao was in elementary school, right after his parents divorced and his dad left for God knows where, he once threw a _fit._ It was at one of Ayumi’s birthday parties, and he kept thinking about how his dad was never going to be at one of their birthday parties again, and he just _lost_ it. He started screaming and throwing things and it was like he was a completely different person.

Afterwards, he’d been embarrassed. Really embarrassed. Probably more embarrassed than he’d ever been in his life. He wanted to disappear so that he would never have to face any of the people who’d witnessed his “episode.”

The kindest reaction had been the people who pretended they hadn’t seen anything.

He figures this is what Midorima’s going through now—embarrassed that he’d had a fit, embarrassed that someone had witnessed it.

_Promise me you won’t be mean to him._

So Takao does the nice thing, and pretend he didn’t see anything.

“I’m Takao,” he offers.

“I know,” Midorima says. Takao blinks, wondering if Midorima remembers him after all, but then Midorima continues with, “We’re in the same class.”

“That we are,” Takao says cheerfully. “So you listen to Oha Asa, yeah? That’s why you carry the lucky items?”

Midorima looks surprised but wary. “Yes?”

“My little sister listens to the show sometimes,” Takao says. Is it weird for a mutant to listen to a horoscope? Or does it make sense? If super powers exist, maybe horoscopes aren’t so bizarre.

“What’s your sign?” Midorima asks.

“Scorpio,” Takao replies.

Midorima looks flustered. His lips form a thin line and he sighs. “Oha Asa really is always right.”

“Eh?” Takao says.

“I’m going home,” Midorima announces.

“Oh yeah. I should too. Bye, Midorima.”

Midorima starts to leave. Then, to Takao’s surprise, he turns back. “See you tomorrow, Takao.”

*

When he goes home, he looks up the Oha Asa’s horoscope for today on a whim. He determines that Midorima must be a Cancer, by the snow globe lucky item for the day.

The Cancer report was: “Oh no! Cancer’s are ranked last today! Watch out for those who mean you harm and be sure to have today’s lucky item, a snow globe, for safety! Cancers’ number one compatibility is with Scorpios, so if a Scorpio should offer aid, make sure you trust them!”

Takao is actually mildly impressed. He’s not sure he completely buys into the accuracy of horoscopes, but in a world where mutant superpowers exist, he’s not willing to rule anything out.

*

After that, Takao resolves two things: One, to try and be nicer to Midorima from now on and Two: to never, ever let his mom know he’s doing this.

Midorima, for what it’s worth, seems to accept that the strong compatibility between Cancers and Scorpios means that he at least grudgingly returns Takao’s greetings in the mornings.

The mutant doesn’t have many friends, and Takao’s still not sure he’s volunteering for the job. But he can’t quite leave Midorima alone after seeing him huddled under a desk.

“Hey, Shin-chan!” Takao calls one day after class.

“What— _what_ did you call me?” Midorima sputters.

“Shin-chan!” Takao sing-songs, because Midorima needs to lighten up.

“Don’t call me that, fool!” Midorima says, turning bright red.

Which frankly, is _adorable,_ and Takao decides to call him this _all the time._ “Why not? I think it suits you. Anyway, Shin-chan, you know how to play basketball, right?”

“I said don’t call me that. And yes, I do. How did you know that?”

Takao laughs. He’s not hurt that Midorima’s completely forgotten him—well, not really. But he thinks he won’t tell Midorima about their past. “It’s a secret,” Takao sings. “Anyway, Shin-chan, you should come to practice with me.”

“That seems pointless. I refuse.”

“Come on, I want to try something.”

He drags Midorima to practice despite the taller boy’s repeated protestations. The basketball club looks startled at Midorima’s sudden appearance, and Takao takes advantage of their surprise to grab a couple balls from the bin.

“You can make it into the hoop from half-court, can’t you?” He’d seen Midorima do this, back when the Miracles were annihilating the make-shift team Takao was on at the base.

“Of course I can,” Midorima says. He takes a ball and tosses it with ease. The ball makes a ridiculously large arc and swishes into the net like it was nothing. Takao laughs at how absurd the feat is.

“How about the full court? Can you make it full court?”

“I’m sure I could,” Midorima hedges, meaning he hasn’t actually tried.

Takao drags him to the edge of the court. “Come on, I want to see it!”

Midorima looks irritated (which, Takao realizes, is probably just his default expression) but shoots the ball anyway.

The entire basketball club watches in awe as the ball goes in.

“It’s not all that impressive if he’s using powers,” a fellow First Year says snidely.

Midorima puffs up in indignation, “I _wasn’t_ —” 

“Shin-chan wasn’t using his power,” Takao interrupts. “If he was, he’d be glowing green.”

“Oi, oi,”” Miyagi the elder says. “You mean you did that _naturally?_ ”

Midorima adjusts his glasses—something Takao’s beginning to realize he does when he’s embarrassed. “Yes, of course. I don’t miss.”

“You should join the basketball club!” Kimura says.

“That would be a pointless endeavor,” Midorima scoffs. “I am not allowed to play in games.”

“That can’t be true,” Miyagi protests. “I read in a magazine that Kise joined Kaijo’s basketball club.”

Midorima snorts. “Kise’s motives for doing so had absolutely nothing to do with _playing basketball,_ I can assure you of that.”

Takao thinks this is a great idea. Midorima hasn’t joined any clubs, as far as he’s aware, and the awkward doofus _should_ socialize more, even if he can’t play in official games. “You can still play in practice games, right?” Takao says. “Come on, Shin-chan! You should join! We need a shooting guard!”

Midorima adjusts his glasses. “Fine.”

*

So that’s how Midorima joins the basketball club. Despite his declaration of pointless activities, he practices harder than anyone, often staying long after practice is over, shooting basket after absurdly ridiculous basket.

He doesn’t actually socialize much with the other team—his arrogant standoffish nature actually alienates him from the majority of the club. The Third Years often threaten to throw pineapples at his head. Takao’s not sure _why_ Midorima comes, but for his own sake, Takao’s glad. Having Midorima there is like having his own motivator—if Midorima’s still practicing, _Takao’s_ still practicing. There’s no way he’s going to lose to this guy.

*

“Coach, I would like to skip practice today,” Midorima asks formally.

“Hm? Why?” Nakatani asks.

“Kaijo is playing a practice game against Seirin today. I would like to go watch it.”

Takao’s ears prick as he shamelessly listens in. _Midorima_ wants to watch a practice basketball game between other schools? What would the point of that be?

“Is there a particular reason why this game is of interest to you?” Nakatani asks.

“Kise is in the Kaijo basketball club, and Kuroko is at Seirin. I believe they are both playing in today’s game, and I would like to see how they play against each other.”

“Kuroko?” the coach asks. Kise Ryouta, of course. Everyone’s heard of Kise. But who the hell is Kuroko, and why does Midorima care about him?

“Kuroko Tetsuya,” Midorima clarifies. “He is another Miracle. Although he is not like the rest of us, I still believe watching their battle would be interesting.”

“Two Miracles play each other in basketball?” Takao says. “That sounds like fun! And the game is at _Kaijo_? I want to go!” He doesn’t remember Kuroko Tetsuya, can’t recall if his mother ever talked about him. But Kaijo has _Kasamatsu Yukio_ , and Takao doesn’t want to miss this opportunity.

“You can’t!” Miyaji says, hitting him over the head. “You still have to increase your stamina if you want to play in games, First Year!”

Takao pouts. “Coach, can’t I go? I’m sure it’ll be a valuable lesson!”

Nakatani holds his chin in a thoughtful pose. “Alright. Midorima and Takao can go to Kaijo and watch the game. But you have to go by bicycle.”

“No problem!” Takao says cheerfully.

“And Takao has to take Midorima in a rickshaw,” Nakatani continues.

“What?” Takao yelps.

“It’ll help increase your stamina,” the coach says.

“Sounds excellent,” Midorima says. “We’ll leave right away.”   

*

Takao pants and huffs. His legs and lungs are on fire and at this point, only his desire to strangle Midorima (who is cheerfully relaxing in the rickshaw and drinking red bean soup) fuels his strength to keep paddling.

“Watching your old friends better be worth it!” he huffs.

“It’s the copycat and the invisible boy,” Midorima says, smirking. “It should be an interesting game.”

*

Midorima hops out at a stop light and _leaves_ him there. He has never wanted to kill someone so much as he does right now.

*

He completely misses his chance to see two Miracles face off against each other in a game of basketball (which he was actually really looking forward to seeing, having the impression that it would be a bit like watching _Space Jam)_ but what’s worse, he once again misses his chance to meet Kasamatsu Yukio.

He finds Midorima talking to Kise Ryouta, and yells at him for leaving him behind. (Both Miracles ignore his arrival.)

“I don’t know why you seem to think you’ll get your revenge at InterHigh,” Midorima continues his discussion with Kise, as if Takao’s interruption had never occurred. “You can’t play in official games.”

“Coach seems to think I can,” Kise challenges. “At least, he thinks we could probably get the officials to agree I can play against a team that also has another Miracle on it. Which means Kurokocchi and I can face each other again.”

“Oh?” Midorima says. “In which case, you still won’t get your revenge. _I’ll_ play Kuroko before you can, and there is no way I’ll lose against him.”

Takao blinks at this announcement. That sounds like Midorima _wants_ to play in an official game.

Kise snorts. “I don’t think so, Midorimacchi. I think Kurokocchi would give _you_ just as much trouble as he gave _me._ And his new human pet’s not bad either. Speaking of which, who is this?”

Golden eyes fix on Takao, and it takes Takao a while to realize he was just called _a human pet_ and then he’s _pissed._

Before he can say anything Midorima interrupts, “He’s no one. Come on, Takao, we’re leaving.”

Takao likes Midorima calling him “no one” _even less_ than Kise calling him a “human pet.” He forces himself to calm down and follows after Midorima while seething.

He doesn’t miss the look Kise gives him. It’s a heavy, speculative look, as if he had just done something interesting. Takao doesn’t like that either.

*

They manage to catch a sight of the Seirin team just as they pile on to a bus. Takao figures it’d be easy to spot Kuroko Tetsuya—just look for the one with weird colored hair—but then discovers there are two candidates. He’s still pissed at Midorima, but he hides it (there’s not point in being mad at Midorima, not really. You can’t stop a cat from being a cat, and you can’t stop Midorima from being an asshole) and asks, “So? Which one was Kuroko? The tall red haired guy or the short blue haired one? Or is it one of the black haired ones after all?” It was “Kuro” after all…

Midorima stiffens beside him, and looks at Takao with a surprised expression.

“What?” Takao asks, confused.

“Kuroko is the short blue-haired one. You saw him?”

“Well, yeah. He was right there, by the red-haired guy. He was short but it’s not like I couldn’t spot him in a crowd—”

“You shouldn’t be able to, actually,” Midorima says, still looking at him intently. “Kuroko’s Latent Overflow makes him exceptionally difficult to notice. I only saw him because I was consciously trying to. You, who have never met him, should not have been able to see him at all.”

“What does that even mean?” Takao asks.

“Nothing,” Midorima says, turning and walking. Takao walks the bike (and attached rickshaw) next to him.

“So did you get to see what you wanted?” Takao asks.

“I saw enough,” Midorima says cryptically, “Why did _you_ want to come?”

Takao shrugs. “I mostly came to meet Kasamatsu-san. I guess I’ll have to wait—”

Midorima abruptly stops walking and whirls on Takao. “Kasamatsu _Yukio?_ ”

Takao blinks, surprised Midorima recognizes the name. “Yeah? He’s a nationally ranked Point Guard. Since, I play the same position, I want to talk to him. Plus, I have a bit of a crush on him, so—”

 _“You have a crush on Kasamatsu Yukio?_ ” Midorima sputters.

Takao frowns at Midorima’s sputtering. Is this the first time Midorima’s heard about him being gay? No, that was impossible. It had come up a couple of times in jovial teasing during practice. “Just a little one—”

“No,” Midorima snaps. “Absolutely not. You’re not allowed.”

“Excuse me?” Takao bristles.

“You are not allowed to like Kasamatsu Yukio,” Midorima says again, taking away any possibility that Takao misheard him. “I won’t let you.”

Takao gapes at him. “You can’t tell me who I’m allowed to like!”

“ _Anyone_ but him!” Midorima says viciously. “You can like anyone you want but Kasamatsu Yukio.”

Takao actually finds this more intriguing than annoying. Curiosity trumps outrage and he asks, “What do you have against Kasamatsu-san?”

“ _Kise!_ ” Midorima wails.

“Kise Ryouta?” Takao says, still confused.

Midorima flounders, looking a cross between dismayed and dead inside. “For _three years,”_ he hisses, “Three _agonizingly long_ years, I have been _tormented_ with descriptions of Kasamatsu Yukio. You cannot imagine how annoying Kise can be when he is talking about his obsession. ‘Senpai’s legs! His eyebrows! His eyes!’ Every last bit of him in horrible, horrible detail. Kasamatsu Yukio will never know how close to death he came—Aomine and Murasakibara were plotting his downfall just so Kise would shut up about him and give us peace.”

“Kise Ryouta has a crush on Kasamatsu-san?” Takao asks, delighted by this display. He was never seen Midorima look so appalled.

“ _Obsessed_. He has an _obsession,_ ” Midorima stresses. “Kasamatsu Yukio is the only human who continued to visit us after the first failed attempt to socialize us with children our own age. Only, we never get to see him because Kise wouldn’t _let_ us. He didn’t want us _near_ his precious Senpai, but did that stop him from spending hours waxing on about him?” Midorima sounds so disgusted. This is literally the most amazing thing Takao has ever heard.

“I’m not surprised,” he teases. “Kasamatsu-san is _so amazing_ —”

“No, no, stop, stop that right now. I will not tolerate three more years hearing about the glories of his eyebrows. _I forbid it._ ”

Takao can’t help but feel delighted by this new avenue of tormenting Midorima. He refrains because he’s slightly hung up on Midorima’s declaration that he wouldn’t put up with it for “three more years.” He feels oddly touched by the fact that Midorima seems to think they’ll remain in contact with each other throughout their high school education. It almost makes up for the “no one” comment.

“Besides,” Midorima says, his voice shifting. “For your own sake, it is better if you give up on Kasamatsu.”

“Why?” Takao asks.

“Haven’t you been listening?” Midorima says, disgusted. “Kise is obsessed—and _possessive._ If he sees you as a rival he will kill you.”

Takao laughs but then he sees Midorima’s face. “Uh—you _are_ exaggerating, right?”

“Of course not! He wouldn’t even let _Kuroko_ near Kasamatsu. Murasakibara once had to carry Kasamatsu to the nurse’s office and he feared an assassination attempt for weeks. He wouldn’t hesitate to take _you_ out for a moment.”

“No one likes a jealous lover,” Takao says succinctly. “If he keeps acting like that, Kasamatsu-san will leave him.”

“It’s not reciprocated,” Midorima says. “Kasamatsu has never once indicated he feels the same way.”

“No kidding?” Takao says, impressed more than ever with Kasamatsu Yukio. He has a gorgeous model with super powers vying for his attention and he’s not interested? Even if he didn’t swing that way, that’d be hard to turn down. “They go to the same school now; that might have changed. Maybe you just didn’t hear about it.”

Midorima rolls his eyes. “I’d have heard about it. If Kise ever consummates his obsession, believe me, the whole _world_ will hear about it. This is taking forever, go back to pedaling me.”

“My legs are tired,” Takao whines. “ _You_ peddle. Hell, you’re telekinetic. Can’t you just make the rickshaw move on its own?”

“I could,” Midorima smirks. “But then you’ll never increase your stamina.”

*

Midorima practices even harder after that, and spends a lot of time comparing Takao’s playing style to Kuroko’s. It starts off mildly irritating and finally turns into a full-on grudge. Midorima doesn’t think well of _anyone_ , but apparently his fellow Miracles are the exception. Takao finds that he hopes the Miracles _can_ play in a game; he wants the chance to go up against Kuroko.

When the coach comes and tells them Midorima can play—but only against Seirin, and only if the teammates agree—Takao instantly votes yes. He’s a little surprised when the rest of Shutoku agrees. So is Midorima.

“You’ve been practicing,” Miyaji says. “I think anyone who comes to practice deserves a shot. You better remember you’re only allowed three selfish requests.”

Midorima pushes up his glasses. Takao _thinks_ he’s pleased. But it’s hard to tell.

*

Seirin seems unprepared for the fact that Takao can see Kuroko, which Takao takes deep pleasure in.

“I bet Seirin’s regretting the choice to let you play now,” Takao tells Midorima during Half Time. “Kuroko’s really no match for you in terms of physical skill. And once you take away his lack of presence, he’s not really an impressive player.”

Midorima doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. And then he says, “Do you know why I don’t like Kuroko?”

Takao wants to say, “I’m pretty sure you _don’t_ dislike Kuroko, despite what you say about A and B blood types. I’m pretty sure you have a big gay crush on Kuroko, but that’s neither here nor there.” But he doesn’t say anything.

“It’s because I respect him. He was the strongest one of us all. And he continually chooses to associate with people far inferior than he who do not understand his strength.”

It feels like a slap to his face. _This,_ Takao thinks, _is probably why_ I _don’t like Kuroko._

He’s jealous over _Midorima_. The thought is absurd—he’s still reeling from the implications, so even when they lose, he can’t help but not feel too bad about it.

*

Midorima seems devastated, which Takao finds fascinating. He stays with him in the rain, even when the rest of the team leaves him behind.

He didn’t think Midorima had cared.

Is it just because he doesn’t like to lose? Or is it because he lost to Kagami? Is he jealous of Kagami’s closeness to Kuroko? There’s so many things Takao wants to ask, but he’s afraid of the answers.

Instead, he just says, “Cheer up, Shin-chan! There’s always next time!”

Midorima looks disgruntled at Takao’s cheer. “Kise was right,” Midorima says bitterly. “It was a bad match to go against Kuroko. I wanted to beat him too much.”

Man, what is with his hang up on Kuroko?

“Let’s go get something to eat!” Takao says, “We can wait out the rain.”

Midorima seems willing to accept this proposal, up until they find out that the first place they walk into has the entire Seirin team. Midorima wants to walk out again, but it’s way too windy.

Then Takao sees the grey Kaijo uniforms and thinks the heavens must be rewarding him for his continued patience with Midorima.       

*

“You did this on purpose,” Kasamatsu says.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Takao says, looking at the absurd table slyly. Midorima looks pissed, Takao’s sitting next to Kasamatsu Yukio, this is the best day of his life.

“Man, Kagami really fits in with the other Miracles,” Koganei says. Takao likes the Seirin Second Year. He can do flips with the okonomiyaki and Takao finds that impressive. He wants to give it a try.

“He sure plays like one of them,” Takao says. “He gave Shin-chan trouble, that’s for sure.”

“Kise too,” Kasamatsu says. “Oi, stop flipping your food, you’re going to make a mess.”

“I’ll be fine,” Takao says.

*

Takao feels slightly bad for Midorima, so he graciously offers his rickshaw driving services. After all, he’d lost a game, had to sit with the victors, and had okonomiyaki flung on his head.

Takao, on the other hand, got Kasamatsu Yukio's phone number.

“We have to talk more!” he’d wheedled. “We’re both Point Guards! We’re part of an exclusive club of people who have to shepherd Miracles!”

“Sure, sure,” Kasamatsu says, looking embarrassed but flattered by Takao’s attention.

“I’ll catch up with you later, Senpai!” Kise calls. “I just need to say good bye to Midorimacchi!”

Except Kise doesn’t turn to Midorima after Kasamatsu’s out of hearing range. He turns to Takao. “You know, Takao-kun, I like you,” Kise says casually. “You put up with Midorimacchi, and that makes you kind of special. But if you pursue Senpai, I’m going to kill you.”

“Uh…” Takao says, eloquently.

Kise smiles. “And I can be anyone, Takao. Your mom, your teacher, Midorimacchi. You’ll never know who I am, so you’ll never see me coming. Got it?”

Takao hides behind Midorima. “Got it.”

“Kise, stop threatening Takao,” Midorima says. “He needs to take me home.”

“Just making sure we understand each other,” Kise sings. “Bye, Takao-kun! Bye Midorimacchi!”

“Holy crap!” Takao says after he’s gone. “I think you actually undersold how terrifying he is! He would actually kill me!”

“I did tell you,” Midorima says.

“But—” Takao says. “ _He would actually kill me.”_ Because he 100% believes Kise was serious with his threats.

 _And he could be anyone._ How terrifying is that? If Kise was your enemy, you could never trust anyone again.

“I suggest you set your amorous desires elsewhere,” Midorima says.

“Are you kidding me? I don’t think I can ever flirt again. That was terrifying. Man, I’m so glad we got you.”

Midorima pushes up his glasses. He seems embarrassed and pleased.

*

He’s still a little twitchy the next day. So he’s a little on edge when he spots Kuroko after class is over.

“Gah!” he says. “Don’t kill me! I promise I’ll delete his phone number!”

“Excuse me?” Kuroko asks politely.

“Wait. Are you actually Kuroko? Not Kise?”

“Ah,” realization dawns. “I thought it was ill advised when you took Kasamatsu-senpai aside. Midorima-kun should have warned you.”

“He did,” Takao admits. “I just didn’t believe him.”

“Kise-kun cannot successfully Copy my appearance,” Kuroko explains. “So you do not need to worry when you see me.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Takao says. “Are you here to see Shin-chan? I think he’s already at practice.”

“Actually, Takao-kun, I am here to see you.”

“Why?” Takao says, surprised. He wonders if he did anything to incur Kuroko’s wrath during the game.

“I wished to speak with you. Will you accompany me to Maji Burger?”

“Uh. Sure?” The Third Years will give him hell for skipping practice, but he’s intrigued. There’s no way he’s going to miss this.

*

Kuroko only orders a vanilla shake, and Takao waits for him to start the conversation. He still can’t help but wonder if Kuroko, like Kise, has some murderous grudge.

“You call him ‘Shin-chan?’” Kuroko finally starts the conversation, and he confuses Takao even further. Did he come all this way to talk about Midorima?

“Yeah,” Takao shrugs. “Shin-chan gets so flustered when I call him that. It’s fun to tease him.”

“Ah,” Kuroko says. “I see. If it is your intent to tease him, Takao-kun, it has probably backfired. Midorima-kun probably enjoys the nickname.”

“You think so?” Takao says.

Kuroko pauses. It’s weird talking to someone with zero facial expression. He wonders how Seirin puts up with it.

Kuroko starts talking again, “We did not have names until we escaped Teiko. Once we escaped, we realized just how little the Teiko scientists thought of us as people. We were pleased when the JSDF gave us names. I believe the reason Kise-kun, Momoi-san, and Murasakibara-kun insist on giving everyone a nickname is because it is their way of making sure we always remember we have names now. A way of solidifying our sense of personhood, if you will. It is their way of forging bonds. There is no way Midorima-kun is not pleased you gave him a nickname.”

Takao feels embarrassed—all the more so because of how clinical Kuroko sounds. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“No. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Why?” Takao asks.

Kuroko stares at him with unblinking light blue eyes. It’s unnerving.

Then Kuroko sighs. “There was a Miracle who could always see me. He was designed to literally have a bird’s eye view when he used his power, and so that transferred to a wider scope of vision with his Latent Overflow. He could always see everything inside his field of view, including me. Once I realized you could do the same thing, I admit I was fascinated. I did not think a human could do it. I suppose I was trying to verify that you _were_ just a human.”

“Really?” Takao says, slightly flattered. “You didn’t have to come all this way for that. I’m 100% normal human, I promise you that.”

“Yes, I see that now.” It’s impossible to tell how Kuroko sounds. Is he disappointed? Pleased? “The thing is, Takao-kun, it worries me slightly that you have the ability at all. You are the second human to demonstrate a slight immunity to our powers. I can’t help but wonder if there are more of you. Or what the Teiko scientists would have done, had they known you existed.”

Takao shivers. There’s something there, something dark and beyond Takao’s capability of understanding.

“I apologize. I did not mean to scare you, Takao-kun. Thank you for speaking with me.” Kuroko gets up to leave.

“You do it too,” Takao blurts out. Kuroko pauses and looks at him questioningly. “That thing you do with saying a person’s name so formally. That’s your way of solidifying a sense of personhood, isn’t it?”

Kuroko nods his head. Takao _thinks_ he sees a smile, but he isn’t sure. “Takao-kun is very smart. I can see why Midorima-kun enjoys your company.”

Takao watches him leave, wondering why Kuroko thinks Midorima enjoys his company.

*

Practice is over by the time Takao makes it back. Only Midorima is left, shooting ball after ball.

“The coach is very unhappy with you,” Midorima says when he approaches, not diverting his attention away from the basket.

Takao grimaces. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to dealing with that tomorrow. Hey, which Miracle has enhanced vision?”

Midorima turns to him. “What?”

“I was talking to Kuroko,” Takao explains. “He said I reminded him of one of the Miracles, who actually had a bird’s eye view. Which is a pretty cool power, honestly. Which one is it? Not you, obviously. I’m guessing not Kise. Is it the scary red head?”

Midorima turns back to the basket and shoots the ball. “He was probably talking about Orange.”

“Orange?” Takao says, confused. None of the Miracles have orange hair.

“I hadn’t made the connection, but I see how it would have been obvious to Kuroko. Orange was the first one to ever see and remember him regularly. He was the _only_ one of us who could, for the longest time. We used to call Black ‘Orange’s imaginary friend’ because none of us knew he existed for so long. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Black would seek you out. He never got over what happened to Orange.”

Takao hesitates. Midorima sounds like he’s talking from faraway. Like he’s not _here_ , and it scares him. “By ‘Black’—are you talking about Kuroko?”

The ball misses the hoop.  Midorima’s hands shake. When he looks back to Takao, Takao knows the moment is over. Midorima has returned to his normal self. “Yes, Kuroko. That’s what I meant.”

Takao knows he should leave it alone but he can’t. “None of the Miracles have orange hair.”

Midorima gives him an indecipherable look. “Of course not. Orange died a long time ago.” He raises a sardonic brow. “We weren’t the only experiments, you know. We were just the only ones who escaped.”

Takao opens his mouth and then closes it.

Teiko Industries was shut down after the Miracles escaped. A lot of the scientists were imprisoned.

The news never mentioned other Miracles. If there had been more than just the seven who escaped the world would know by now.

Takao licks his lips. “How many were there?”

Midorima shrugs and shoots another ball. “Hard to say. They kept us separated. A lot.”

There’s something about his voice that makes it clear that the conversation is over.

Takao wants to say more. He wants answers.

But he’s too afraid to ask.

*

Takao becomes Midorima’s personal rickshaw driver—something Midorima enjoys _way_ too much in Takao’s opinion, and that the senpais all shamelessly encourage because it “helps Takao with his stamina.”

When Midorima finds out he lives near Takao, he decides commuting to and from school in the Takao Express was the only way to travel. Takao’s still not entirely sure why he _agrees_ to all this—he suspects he has a latent masochistic streak that’s only just now manifesting—but he can’t deny the fact that his leg muscles have never been so good as they are now.

Part of chauffeuring Midorima around means occasionally going on lucky item hunts. He bitches about the added weight a lot but he never once complains about their existence. That day with the snow globe still occasionally looms between them, but Takao never brings it up. Midorima doesn’t either.

One day after practice Midorima insists they stop at a drug store, so he can buy a college ruled notebook (Takao rejoices on the days with small lucky items) and Takao decides to wait outside with the rickshaw.

He doesn’t even really notice the group of boys when they approach. They’re laughing and clearly on their way to a Karaoke bar or something, and Takao’s too busy wondering if Midorima is inspecting each individual notebook the drug store has to offer because he’s taking _forever._

“ _Takao?”_

So he isn’t prepared for when the boys notice _him._ When he looks up he sees Sawada, his first boyfriend, and a group of his old basketball teammates. At least three of the people who jumped him in the past.

This shouldn’t be an issue, really. Except last week Shutoku played their high school team (they weren’t starters, they were benched the whole time) and Takao had thoroughly enjoyed wiping the floor with their team.

It had been very satisfying on all accounts, but he can tell by the looks on their faces that they still hold a grudge.

“Hey Sawada, everyone,” Takao says cheerfully. “Great game last week. It sure was fun playing, wasn’t it—Oh, wait, you guys didn’t get to play, did you?”

Takao really should work on his survival instincts. He knows this.

The punch in the face is not surprising but it is a little disappointing—Takao’s really tired of history repeating.

“Shut up, fag,” Harada, the old middle school Shooting Guard, says.

“Really, it’s been a year, and you still haven’t updated your insults?” Takao taunts. “And what are you going to do, beat me up _here?_ Out in the open?”

“We’re not in a tournament anymore, remember?” Harada says. “But _you_ are. Maybe we should make sure you can’t play anymore.”

Well. Fuck.

Takao braces himself for another punch but it never comes. When he opens his eyes he sees Harada with his fist raised, but frozen in place.

Then, slowly, all the boys start rising from the ground.

“Takao? Who are these people?”

“Shin-chan!” Takao says joyfully.

Midorima is glowing green. He holds his newly acquired notebook in one hand and eyes the boys he has trapped in the air. They’re all letting out alarmed exclamations and demands to be let go. Midorima has a disdainful and haughty expression.           

“They’re no one important,” Takao says cheerfully. “Just old middle school teammates I have no attachment for whatsoever.”

“One of them hit you,” Midorima observes.

“Yeah, that he did, and not for the first time too.”

Takao is weirdly happy. It makes sense that he’d be happy—he thought he was going to be beat up again and then he wasn’t; what’s not to be happy about?

But seeing Midorima holding his old tormentors like some sort of vengeful god is supremely satisfying.

“Let us down, freak!” one of them yells.

Midorima raises them up—up and up until they’re above the buildings. “Should I let you down now?”

The boys are screaming, and it’s drawing attention.

“Better not actually kill them, Shin-chan. There are witnesses,” Takao says.

Midorima looks at Takao with an unreadable expression. “Shall I kill them where no one can see, then?” he asks softly.

It’s the first time Takao realizes that Midorima is _angry._ Truly angry. He actually _wants_ to hurt them.

Takao doesn’t often think about Midorima as dangerous—but he is, of course he is. Just as deadly as Kise, as deadly as any of them.

“No, Shin-chan,” Takao says quietly. “They’re not worth it.”

Midorima considers this and then nods, agreeing. He places the boys back on the ground and they all take off running.

“Just a publicity stunt, folks!” Takao says cheerfully “All done in good fun! For 50000 yen, Shin-chan will raise you to the air!”

The crowd disperses.

*

“Who were they?” Midorima asks when Takao pulls up to his house.

Takao’s surprised Midorima asks at all. He hasn’t said anything this entire time.

“I told you—old teammates. Old boyfriend.”

“Why did they hit you?”

“They objected to me liking guys.”

“People object to that?” Midorima sounds disgusted. “There was more to it than that. What was it?”

Midorima never asks Takao anything. He’s never shown much interest in Takao’s well being or history before.

Takao’s past isn’t exactly a secret, but he doesn’t like talking about it. But then again, Takao still hopes one day Midorima will talk about _his_ past so he decides, what the hell?

He tells Midorima everything. Starting with Sawada and the closet and the aftermath, and ending with being jumped after school. It’s impossible to tell what Midorima thinks about the story. He just quietly listens.

When Takao is finished, Midorima looks pissed. “You should have let me hurt them. I detest bullies.”

“That’s a surprising sense of justice you’ve got there, Shin-chan,” Takao says jovially. “You could slap on some tights and becomes a superhero.”

“It is not justice, fool,” Midorima says irritably. “I’ve been bullied before and I do not like it. That is all.”

“Who would bully _you_ —oh, you mean the Judo club?” It’s the first time Takao’s ever mentioned the Snow Globe Incident. “Hey, if you could do all that, why didn’t you stop them before they broke your lucky item?”

“When I entered Shutoku I promised never to use my abilities against another student or teacher. If I do, I will be expelled.”

“What!” Takao exclaims, “But, just now—”

“ _They_ weren’t Shutoku students,” Midorima says.

“Oh. Well then.”

“And I wasn’t talking about them anyway,” Midorima clenches his fists, and he has a faraway look Takao has come to recognize means he’s thinking about Teiko.

Midorima snaps his attention abruptly back to Takao. “One thing I don’t understand—if Sawada betrayed you, why didn’t _you_ just tell the world he was also gay?”

Takao shrugs. “What would the point of that be? I’d still be screwed either way.”

“But then so would he!” Midorima insists.

“Just because he was a jerk didn’t mean I had to be one,” Takao says.

Midorima gapes at him. Takao has never seen Midorima look so dumbfounded. “Of course it does!” Midorima explodes, and Takao wonders how he suddenly became the object of Midorima’s wrath.

“If someone hurts you, it’s only smart to hurt them back,” Midorima says, sounding genuinely angry. “If someone tries to drag you down, you have to do everything you can to make sure they go down first. You have to do everything you can to make sure you’re the last one standing!”

“That sounds like a lonely way to live,” Takao says quietly.

“It is _basic nature,_ ” Midorima hisses. He’s visibly shaking, like he can’t contain his wrath. “The drowning man will do everything he can to survive, even if it means letting others drown.”

“That’s dumb,” Takao says bluntly. “Drowning people give life boats to others all the time. Women and children first, you know? Haven’t you ever watched _Titanic?_ ”

“No,” Midorima says stiffly. “I have not.”

Takao sighs. “Look, Shin-chan, the whole world is full of assholes. No one knows this better than me. If I can help it, I’m not going to add to the number by being an asshole too. Got it?”

Midorima’s knuckles are white, and he’s still shaking. “Sometimes,” he says slowly, “You are just like Kuroko. I really hate that about you.”

He turns around and walks into his house, leaving Takao alone with the rickshaw.

 _That,_ Takao thinks, _is probably the cruelest thing Midorima could have said to me._


	4. Chapter 4

Himuro Tatsuya desperately wanted to go back to Japan, but he couldn’t let his father know that.

His father, fed up with his openly queer son constantly disobeying orders, thought he was sending Himuro into exile.

Himuro made sure to cause an appropriate fuss. “Do you think I’m going to suddenly turn straight in Japan? There are going to be plenty of men I can fuck in Japan!”

“What I _expect_ is for you to learn _discretion,_ ” his father said wearily.

And Himuro stopped at that point because he didn’t want to push too far.

Because he really, really wants to go back to Japan. He has for the past two years, ever since the world learned superpowers exist and they were in Himuro’s homeland.

*

Himuro admits he’s a bit of a fanboy.

He grew up on American comic books and he loves them. He loves all the superhero stories—the average man who has greatness thrust upon him; the playboy turned vigilante after tragedy; the born hero, the underdog, the reformed villain.

Growing up, he desperately wanted _miracles_ to exist. He wanted a magical world, something better than the mediocrity and mundane existence he was living. He wanted something impossible.

And then the impossible became possible, and there were genuine Miracles that walked the earth.

He’s frustrated, of course, when his father sends him to Akita and not Tokyo, where most of the Miracles live. (He thinks about his “little brother” Kagami—he’s in Tokyo too, with all the luck.) But he figures just being in the same country is a good start to meeting a Miracle.

*

Coming to Yosen seems like fate.

“You mean there’s one here?” he exclaims excitedly.

“Sh,” Liu chides. “Not so loud! Yes, you stupid American returnee. There’s one here. He lives with Coach. _Don’t_ look so excited by this, we got the scariest one. He hates everyone, _everyone_ you understand?”

“Sure, sure,” Himuro says, but truthfully he’s barely listening. A Miracle _here_! It must be destiny!

Liu sighs. “You clearly _aren’t_ listening. Just don’t stare at him, OK? He hates that. And don’t try to talk to him. Or ask him questions about his past. Or get him to do anything. Himuro? Himuro are you listening to me?”

*

Despite what Liu thinks, Himuro _was_ listening.

When he sees Murasakibara Atsushi for the first time (and it would be impossible to _miss_ him, Jesus Christ. Himuro has never felt like he was particularly short until he transferred to Yosen) he understands the reason for caution.

Murasakibara isn’t just tall, he’s imposing. All you have to do is look at him to understand that he’s dangerous. And Himuro has obsessively stalked the fan websites for information about the Miracles, so he knows that Murasakibara’s power is “extreme strength and near invulnerability.” You don’t just walk up to someone who can bench press a tank and hope to be friends.

So he spends time quietly stalking his prey and formulating a seduction plan. He only has one chance to make a good first impression; he’s not going to mess this up.

*

He’s spent days planning the right hook and bait, and now he just has to get the timing right.

He approaches Murasakibara after class, on a day when basketball club isn’t meeting. He doesn’t want any possible interruptions after all.

Murasakibara is sitting down in a bench outside eating snacks.

“Murasakibara-kun, isn’t it?” he says, smiling.

Murasakibara eyes him like he’s debating crushing him on sight.

“You like snacks, right?”

Murasakibara nods. “Yeah, I do,” he never looks away from his snacks.

“I was wondering, have you ever tried American snacks?” Himuro asks casually.

Murasakibara stops eating. _Bingo._

“American snacks?” Murasakibara says warily, like he doesn’t quite trust where this is going but he can’t resist the bait nonetheless.

“I’m Himuro Tatsuya, and I just transferred here from California. My parents sent me some care packages of snacks from America, but they sent too much. I’m not sure I could ever eat them all.”

Himuro is impressed with how well the lie comes out. Like he hadn’t actually spent days bribing every contact he had back home to send him every possible snack they could get their hands on.

“What kind of snacks?” Murasakibara asks.

Himuro smiles and delivers the finishing blow. “Oh, all kinds. Did you know that America has over fifty flavors of potato chips now?”

*

He successfully gets Murasakibara back to his room, and the Miracle munches his way through three different potato chip flavors (Chicken and Waffles, Garlic Bread, and New York Reuben). He also finds Himuro’s offerings of Snickers and Milky Ways acceptable.

“You’re really saving me,” Himuro says, happily watching Murasakibara eat. “My parents tend to go overboard. I’m sure they’re going to keep sending me lots and lots of different snacks.”

“I like them. I’ll keep eating them, Murochin, if you have more.”

Himuro resists the urge to jump up and down. Murasakibara gave him a nickname! He said he would come back and eat more!

“Then, is it alright if I call you Atsushi? I’m still used to the American way of doing things, you see.”

Murasakibara considers this. “Sure, OK.”

*

Himuro makes a point to always have snacks on hand from then on. Even when his American supply temporarily runs out in between shipments. Murasakibara deems the fact that Himuro still always has some snack on hand an acceptable reason to tolerate his presence.

“Himuro-kun,” one of his female classmates asks him. “Aren’t you scared?”

“Of Atsushi? Not at all.” The more time he spends with Murasakibara, the more the Miracle strikes him as a petulant child. It’s more adorable than anything else.

*

Murasakibara starts to follow him around everywhere, and seems disgusted when he finds out Himuro plays basketball.

“It’s such a boring sport,” Murasakibara whines. “Why do you have to play it, Murochin? It’s so easy.”

Himuro’s eyebrow twitches. “Is it? Why don’t you play one on one with me then.”

“Tch, how bothersome. Then, if I win, will you quit the club?”

“Fine,” Himuro says with a smile, “But if I win, you have to _join_ the basketball club.”    

*

Himuro gets past Murasakibara with his Mirage Shot and wins their first one-on-one.

It’s the last time he ever wins against Murasakibara, but it’s the only victory that really matters. Murasakibara hates the loss and comes to every practice after that.

*

They spend a lot of time in his dorm room. Murasakibara eyes Himuro’s comic book collection in disdain but doesn’t comment; as long as he has snacks he’s happy.

The TV plays in the background, and Himuro distantly listens to the news reporter talk about a serial killer that’s cropped up in Tokyo everyone is calling “the Slasher.” (It is a very unoriginal name. Himuro feels uneasy about the reports—the serial killer seems to be targeting young men, and he can’t help but think about Kagami.)

“Why don’t any of you want to fight crime?” he asks casually.

“That’s so bothersome, Murochin.”

“I know why _you_ don’t,” Himuro says with a smile. Although he _doesn’t_ understand it, not really. If he had superpowers, that’s the first thing he would do. He’s known that since he was ten.

Whenever he reads comics or manga or fantasy novels, the one trope he absolutely _loathes_ is the hero who just wishes for a “normal” life. Who the hell wants a normal life? What’s so great about normality anyway?

He was sure that most people, when presented with superpowers, wouldn’t wish for “normal” but then he met Murasakibara and heard about the other Miracles, and he can’t help but feel like maybe it’s a cosmic rule that no one who gets superpowers actually wants them. It’s such a waste.

“I mean, I understand _you_ don’t want to, I _do_ understand that, I wouldn’t ever make you do something bothersome. But what about the others? There’s so much good you guys could do, if you just put your mind to it.”

“None of us are good people, Murochin,” Murasakibara sounds thoroughly disgusted. “We weren’t made that way.”

*

He’s widely known throughout the school as “Murasakibara’s keeper.” If anyone has to give something to the Miracle, they usually give it to Himuro to transfer. Even the coach seems impressed.

“How’d you get him to listen to you?” she demands.

“Hm?” Himuro says. “Does he?”

“More than he listens to _me,_ and I’m his guardian.” She narrows her eyes at him. The whole school knows he’s gay and that he’s not exactly been celibate since coming here. Most people don’t mention it. “Are you sleeping with him?”

“ _Coach,”_ Himuro says reproachfully.

“I don’t care exactly if you _are,_ even though you’re both minors, I just want to know,” Masako says.

“Coach, I have no idea why you’d think I would take advantage of a precious kouhai like that.”

Masako snorts. “Because you’re Alexandra Garcia’s protégé, that’s why. You got a softer touch with your seduction skills than she does, but don’t think I don’t recognize her tutelage.”

Himuro grimaces. It figures Alex’s reputation would get him in trouble here. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She sighs. “Just be careful with him, OK? He’s more fragile than you think.”

Himuro opens his mouth and shuts it with a snap.

It’s the first time anyone has ever thought _Himuro_ had the power to hurt _Murasakibara_ and not the other way around.

*

He thinks he understands a little bit about what Coach means. Murasakibara, having attached himself to Himuro’s side, opens up more everyday.

“Murochin sure is popular,” Murasakibara says petulantly as Himuro waves to some of his classmates.

“Hm? Not really,” Himuro says, although he understands this isn’t true. He’s good-looking and a basketball star. Of course he’s popular.

“Yes, Murochin _is,”_ Murasakibara insists. “People always like you. No one likes me. Everyone is scared of me.”

“I like you,” Himuro says with a smile.

Murasakibara blushes faintly and looks away. “Murochin’s an idiot.”

“The other basketball members aren’t afraid of you either,” Himuro continues.

“Only because of Murochin,” Murasakibara says. “Before Murochin came, everyone ran away from me. They called me a monster.”

They still call him a monster sometimes, when he’s undefeatable on the court. The opposing teams can’t score a single point when Murasakibara plays. It’s almost unimaginable.

“You’re not a monster,” Himuro says, as he hands Murasakibara another bag of snacks.

Murasakibara opens the bag and doesn’t look at Himuro. “Yeah, I am. We all are. People _should_ be scared of us.” He pops a chip in his mouth and munches loudly. “I’m glad Murochin isn’t, though. Murochin has lots of tasty snacks.”

Himuro figures, even if that’s the only reason Murasakibara tolerates his presence, he still feels pretty good about being his exception.

*

It’s only one day after practice that Himuro begins to understand more clearly what Masako meant.

Murasakibara always showers after everyone else has left—or skips the shower altogether. Himuro usually practices long after everyone else has left so Murasakibara is usually showered by the time Himuro hits the locker rooms and then they usually walk back to the dorms together. (Himuro does this for many reasons. He enjoys practicing harder than anyone. He enjoys walking with Murasakibara. And also because he’s aware that even if the Yosen team is OK with his sexual preferences it’s probably best not to press his luck by hanging around them while naked. Despite what his father thinks, he _does_ know how to be discrete.)

But this day is different; because he somehow manages Murasakibara to stay and practice with him (there is much cajoling and promises of treats.) By the time they finish (with Murasakibara’s overwhelming victory) it’s late and they’re both sweaty and in need of a shower.

Himuro silently promises he’s not going to make this weird. Over the past few weeks he knows he’s developed a weird _thing_ for Murasakibara. (He can’t help it. He’s always had a weakness for tall, muscular guys and it’s not his fault Murasakibara is his own walking fantasy). But just because he’s (extremely) attracted to the younger man, doesn’t mean he’s going to mess up a good thing by risking a peek in the showers.

He’s so busy swearing to a dozen different deities that he’s absolutely _not_ going to peek at a naked Murasakibara that he doesn’t notice when Murasakibara grows quiet. He strips off his clothes and takes one of the quickest showers ever, his eyes practically closed the entire time. _Don’t make this weird, Tatsuya!_ He orders himself. _You’ve got a good thing here and you don’t want to scare him away!_

When the water turns off he quickly wraps the towel around himself so as to resist the urge of accidental flirtation. (He’s always been Japanese enough to not care as much about public nudity as the average American. This fact came in handy with many seductions.)

Then he hears a soft, resigned sigh. “Murochin is too pretty.”

“Eh?” Himuro says, thinking he misheard. “What did you say, Atsushi?” He looks up, forgetting all his oaths, to see Murasakibara staring at _him._

Himuro’s jaw drops. He forgets all his earlier vows and _stares._

It’s not because Murasakibara has the body of a god, which he does. Or the fact that he is in every way the largest man Himuro has ever seen. Or that no sixteen year old boy has the right to look that good.

Himuro can’t stop looking at the scars.

He closes his mouth and swallows hard. He can’t stop staring.

Murasakibara is riddled with scars. Burn scars, long cuts, short slashes, holes that look too much like _bullet_ wounds. Murasakibara sighs and turns away from Himuro, reaching for his clothes. “Murochin shouldn’t stare.”

But Himuro can’t help but stare. Murasakibara’s back is worse than his front—it looks like he’d been _whipped,_ repeatedly.

“ _Atsushi,_ ” Himuro says, strangled.

Murasakibara pulls on his underwear and looks back at Himuro. Whatever he sees on Himuro’s face stops him.

Himuro reaches out—he can’t stop himself. He runs one hand down a long scar on Murasakibara’s chest. “What—what _happened_ to you?”

He realizes he’s crying. Murasakibara looks alarmed at Himuro’s reaction.

“Arara. I was lazy, you know? And angry a lot, so they punished me.”

“The _military?_ ” Himuro gasps.

“No, Teiko. The scientists,” Murasakibara rolls his eyes. “Don’t be dumb, Murochin.”

Murasakibara and the other Miracles escaped when they were thirteen. Teiko did this to a _child._

Himuro notices his hands shaking. His whole body is shaking. “They beat you? All of you?”

“Mostly just me,” Murasakibara says, shrugging. “And Kurochin. The others were more obedient.”

“Kurochin?” Himuro has no idea why he’s focusing on that. It’s just that he’s read about the Miracles and he can usually place a face to Murasakibara’s nicknames when he offhandedly mentions his old friends (which is not often). But he doesn’t recognize this one.

“Black. Kuroko Tetsuya. He was disobedient and his training was more painful than mine, so he got hurt _a lot._ But they whipped me more. And the cattle prods. I really didn’t like those. I don’t like being hit. This was the worst, though.” He spreads his legs and Himuro looks down on reflex.

Branded on the inside of his upper thigh is: **GM-P989**.

“They had to keep doing it since mine would fade,” Murasakibara says. “Murochin, stop crying.”

“How can I?” Himuro sobs. He wraps his arms around Murasakibara and cries into his neck, completely forgetting all his earlier vows not to be weird.

Murasakibara is only wearing underwear and Himuro’s in nothing but a towel, but somehow this is the least erotic thing Himuro has ever done. He holds onto Murasakibara like he’s afraid to let go, and he cries for the child Murasakibara was and he just says “I’m sorry,” over and over again.

“Why is Murochin apologizing?” Murasakibara asks, sounding confused. He’s not holding Himuro back, but he’s not throwing him to the ground either.

Himuro shakes his head, pressed up against Murasakibara’s shoulders.

He can’t explain that he’s sorry he was ever envious, that he thought being a Miracle was _cool._ He can’t say he’s sorry he befriended Murasakibara with ulterior motives. He can’t explain that he’s sorry he grew up, safe and sound in America, when Murasakibara was being whipped for disobedience. He can’t say he’s sorry for his utter uselessness now.

So he just continues to apologize, over and over again.

*

It’s not that things have changed between him and Murasakibara after that. Murasakibara still follows him around, he is still a source of snacks, people still view him as the go-between for Murasakibara and the rest of the world.

But if Himuro had to describe it, he would say things were _softer_ now. He wouldn’t have thought Murasakibara had been on edge before the locker room, but now he seems fully at ease.

And maybe Himuro is more at ease too. He has never been scared of Murasakibara in the same way the other students (and teachers) are, but he’d always been scared of _pushing_ too far. Asking the other boy to do something “bothersome” or asking unwanted questions. He never wanted to risk scaring Murasakibara away by asking too much from him.

Now, he asks. It’s like after seeing Murasakibara’s scars, he feels like he knows he’s not going to drive the other boy away from him on accident. If Murasakibara doesn’t want to do something he won’t do it. But he won’t leave Himuro behind.

If he had to put a name to it, he’d say it was like they were friends now. But even that seems like presuming too much.

At any rate, he has no problem cajoling Murasakibara to go to Tokyo with him. He’s surprised when Murasakibara agrees, but he figures the other boy has Tokyo-exclusive snacks in mind.

*

He never expected the day to lead to a meeting with Kagami.

(He knew, of course, that Kagami was in Tokyo. And even knowing that an impromptu streetball tournament is a likely place to encounter his basketball idiot little brother, it still seems like too much for coincidence. Fate at work again, he supposes.)

His feelings at seeing Kagami again are complicated. Kagami’s surprise at seeing _him_ brings feelings of guilt (he should have told him he was back in the country. He knows he should have.) He’s happy to see the boy he grew up with again, but it’s too tied up with all his feelings of inferiority and guilt that he can’t really enjoy the reunion.

When Kagami gets slapped in the face by a puppy, Himuro is not entirely sure what’s happening. He watches Kagami yell at and then get chided by a small blue haired boy, and Himuro feels a confused amusement at the sight. Who _is_ this kid who can not only force Kagami to see reason but also get him to stand near a dog? Where did he come from? Why didn’t Himuro notice a kid with blue hair standing there sooner?  
“I am Kuroko Tetsuya,” the boy introduces politely. “It is nice to meet you.”

Kuroko Tetsuya. Why is the name familiar? _Kurochin_. Ah, yes. That’s right. “It seems like you’ve met an interesting guy, Taiga,” Himuro says.

Kagami looks surprised. “How do you know Kuroko?”

“There’s an interesting guy at my school too,” Himuro replies enigmatically. Honestly, he’s inwardly reeling. What were the chances that _both_ he and Kagami would return to Japan and meet one of the Miracles?

He challenges Kagami to a basketball game, because that’s the only thing he knows what to do.

And then Murasakibara shows up.

*

Watching Murasakibara interact with Kuroko is like a punch to the gut.

Because Murasakibara is _smiling._ His eyes look tender as he pats Kuroko on the head.

Himuro has never seen Murasakibara look like that before. Not even the best flavored snack in the world has ever got Murasakibara to smile like he’s looking at something precious.

When Kuroko slaps Murasakibara’s hand away Himuro almost tackles the small boy to the ground. _He never opens up like that to anyone,_ he wants to yell. _How dare you?_

“Arara? Did I make Kurochin mad?” Murasakibara says. “Sorry, sorry.”

When Murasakibara shifts his attention to Himuro it should be a relief but Himuro is still trying to rein in the rage and jealousy.

He remains calm, and focuses on the match with Kagami. Trust his idiot brother to act like a child in order to goad Murasakibara into breaking the rules.

*

“Who was that guy?” Murasakibara says, as they wait for the train.

“Hm?” Himuro says, although he knows exactly who Murasakibara is talking about.

“The guy with weird eyebrows. Murochin was talking to him. He was with Kurochin.” There’s unmistakable jealousy in Murasakibara’s voice, and it still makes Himuro mind whirl that Murasakibara actually likes someone.

“Kagami Taiga. We grew up together in America. He’s like a little brother to me.”

Murasakibara sighs. “Kurochin likes humans too much. He always has annoying human pets.”

Himuro flinches and says nothing. _Is that what I am to you? A human pet?_

But maybe he’s not even that.

“You seemed happy to see your friend,” Himuro says lightly, masking the hurt. “I’m surprised you didn’t stay in Tokyo—aren’t most of the Miracles there? Don’t you want to see your other friends more often?”

“The others aren’t my friends,” Murasakibara says, sounding disgusted. “They’re annoying. I don’t like being around them.”

“Even Kuroko?”

“Kurochin is different,” Murasakibara says, and his eyes soften again.

Himuro _hates_ it.

*

Later, he remembers.

_Mostly just me. And Kurochin._

_He was disobedient and his training was more painful than mine so he got hurt a lot._

He feels ashamed of his earlier jealousy. The kid seemed so small (although that’s probably only because he was surrounded by really tall basketball players) and breakable. Himuro’s seen pictures of the other Miracles; no one is as tall as Murasakibara, but they all look much sturdier than Kuroko.

But that boy was at Teiko, too. He probably has his own scars.

He wonders if Kagami has seen them.

*

The Winter Cup means a lot of things.

The basketball officials have all deemed that if two opposing teams both have Miracles and everyone agrees to a fair fight, the Miracles can play. Himuro’s glad for Coach’s sake, but he’s still not sure Murasakibara even _likes_ playing.

It means spending a lot of time in Tokyo. Specifically, it means spending a lot of time in a hotel room with Murasakibara.

“Coach, don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled by this generosity. But can I ask why? I know the others have to share four to a room.”

Masako glares at Himuro. “Don’t be dense; you know it’s because of Murasakibara.”

“The others don’t want to share with him?” He bristles. The other club members don’t seem like they’re scared of the Miracle, but maybe they’ve just been hiding it?

“Don’t be ridiculous. _Murasakibara_ doesn’t want to share with _them._ He tolerates you, but anyone else he might crush accidentally.”

“Oh,” Himuro says, mollified and very pleased.

“Don’t seduce my ward,” she warns.

“Coach, I am hurt by your accusations,” Himuro says.

“As someone who has shared a room with Alexandra Garcia in the past, I feel my mistrust is warranted.”

This conjures up a lot of images, really. All kinds of things he’s now picturing in intricate detail.

Coach whacks him with her shinai.       

*

The Winter Cup also means all the Miracles are in the same city for the first time in months.

He’s surprised how often Murasakibara goes out to meet them.

“I thought you didn’t like being around the others,” Himuro says after the first time Murasakibara announces he has to leave, before the opening ceremony.

“Akachin ordered it,” Murasakibara says petulantly. “And we have to obey Akachin.”

Akashi Seijuurou, Himuro guesses. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“Better not,” Murasakibara sighs. “Akachin doesn’t like humans.”

Humans? Himuro almost asks. Or human pets?

*

The second time Murasakibara leaves Himuro decides to meet up with Kagami. They might have an unfinished rivalry battle going on, but until then, they’re still brothers.

“He almost stabbed you with scissors?” he exclaims incredulously.

“You can still see the cut!” Kagami says; and you can—just the faintest trace on his cheek. “If I hadn’t dodged, he might have killed me!”

And now Himuro is worried, honestly. Murasakibara said they had to obey Akashi, but why? Is Akashi responsible for some of Murasakibara’s scars?

*

The third time, he’s not exactly _following_ Murasakibara, and he’s not exactly eavesdropping. He’s just lingering in the general area of the meeting—he can’t even see the Miracles, he just knows the meeting is taking place nearby. He figures he can wait for Murasakibara in a nearby café.

When he walks in, he’s almost immediately hailed by a guy he doesn’t know in an orange jumpsuit. “Oh, Yosen! A Yosen player!”

The shorter boy jumps up and grabs Himuro by the arm. “You can sit with us!”

“Excuse me?” Himuro says, extremely startled.

“Don’t leave me alone with him, I’m begging you,” the smaller boy hisses under his breath, so only Himuro can hear.

Himuro lets himself get dragged over to a table, curious and alarmed. Is the other boy being threatened?

“Takao Kazunari,” his abductor announces, “Shutoku Point Guard. First Year. And this is Kasamatsu Yukio, Kaijo Point Guard. Third Year.”

“Himuro Tatsuya, Yosen Shooting Guard. Second Year,” Himuro says, examining the older boy sitting at the table.  He has intense eyebrows and a stern countenance, but he doesn’t exactly look like a threat.

“Come on, sit with us! We can discuss basketball! The more—oh hey, Kagami!”

Himuro cranes his head. “Taiga?”

Kagami enters the café and looks surprised when he sees the table. “Tatsuya? And Takao and Kasamatsu?”

“Oi, use honorifics, brat!” Kasamatsu growls.

Himuro feels surprised. “You know Taiga?”

“This is great!” Takao says enthusiastically. “We all know each other!”

“What are you guys doing here?” Kagami asks as he joins the table. “How do you even know them, Tatsuya?”

“I don’t,” Himuro says mildly.

“We’re all basketball players, so that means we’re all friends,” Takao says cheerfully. He’s positioned himself next to Himuro and across from Kagami—as far away from Kasamatsu as he can be. He seems much more relaxed now that he’s no longer alone with the Third Year, and Himuro is still vaguely concerned about abusive relationships. “I just met Himuro-san, but I’m sure we’ll get along! And besides, Kagami, Kasamatsu-san and I are probably here for the same reason _you’re_ here. So this is hardly coincidence.”

Kagami sighs. “Tatsuya, you too, huh?”

“Eh?” Himuro says when the others look at him in surprise. He’s clearly the only one who’s missing something.

“Oh! _Yosen,_ ” Takao says, hitting his head. “Murasakibara, right?”

“Yes?” Himuro says, still confused.

“I followed Shin-chan here,” Takao says. “Sorry, Midorima. And Kasamatsu-san followed Kise, and Kagami followed Kuroko, so _you_ must be here for Murasakibara.”

“I didn’t follow Kise,” Kasamatsu growls. “I was dragged here and then abandoned. I was going to leave until I ran into you, Takao.”

“You’re—all friends with Miracles?” Himuro says, mind trying to process this information.

“I believe the term is ‘human pet,’” Takao says dryly.

And Himuro smiles.

He has the feeling he’s going to get along with these guys _really well._

*

“Are you kidding me?!” Kasamatsu yells. “I _live_ with Kise. I have to deal with him almost 24/7! The only time I get to myself is when I’m in class!”

“I have to drive Shin-chan around in a rickshaw,” Takao insists. “That’s way more annoying!”

“I have no spare funds anymore,” Himuro says mournfully. “My entire allowance goes to buying snacks for Atsushi.”

They all look at Kagami.

“Kuroko, uh, sneaks up on me a lot? And he has a dog.”

Kasamatsu rolls his eyes at this contribution. “Kagami got the nicest one; he can’t contribute to this discussion.”

“I haven’t met them all,” Takao says, “So I’m not sure I can agree with that.”

“I _have_ met them all,” Kasamatsu says. “Trust me, Kuroko’s the nicest.”

Himuro’s had a lot of caffeine at this point, and his brain to mouth filter isn’t working well, so he just blurts out, “Is that why Atsushi is in love with him?” before he can stop himself.

Takao looks at him in surprise. “No way, Murasakibara too? Shin-chan is totally obsessed with that guy!”

“So is Kise,” Kasamatsu adds.

“So are the two from Touou,” Kagami says darkly.

Silence descends upon the table.

“What the hell?” Takao sputters. “They can’t _all_ be in love with Kuroko!”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Kise is,” Kasamatsu says.

“Uh, no,” Takao says. “No, I’m pretty sure Kise, at least, is definitely not in love with Kuroko.”

“What?” Kasamatsu says. “I’ve known the guy for over three years now. I think I know him better than you.”

“No doubt you do,” Takao rushes in, “Let’s just say, I’m pretty sure Kise’s interests lie in another direction.”

Himuro smirks around his coffee cup. Kasamatsu and Kagami remain clueless, but Himuro’s pretty sure he can guess why Takao didn’t want to be seen alone with Kasamatsu now.

“Well, what about Kuroko?” Himuro asks, sparing Takao from Kasamatsu’s further inquisition.

“What about Kuroko?” Kagami asks dumbly.

“Who is he in love with?” Himuro wants to roll his eyes, but he’s used to Kagami’s idiocy by now.

“Uh, he’s never mentioned being in love with anyone,” Kagami says.

“Who does he talk about all the time?” Takao persists. “He has to talk about one of the Miracles more than the others.”

Kagami shrugs. “Not really. He’s a pretty close-lipped guy. Pretty much the only time he ever talks about the Miracles is when we’ve just met one, and we ask questions.”

The other three quietly process this. It doesn’t seem fair, Himuro thinks. For all of them to be in love with Kuroko, and Kuroko not love any of them in return.

“Man, I just wish I knew what they’re thing for Kuroko was about,” Takao says. “Shin-can once said Kuroko was the strongest one of them, can you believe that?”

“No way,” Kagami says. “Kuroko said he was the _weakest_ one out of all the Miracles!”

Takao frowns. “Shin-chan rarely ever talks about his time in Teiko. I don’t suppose you guys know anything?”

“No,” Himuro says. He thinks about Murasakibara’s scars, but he _won’t_ talk about them. Then, as delicately as possible, he says, “But I don’t think it was a nice place. I get the feeling there’s a lot of bad memories there.”

“Yeah,” Takao says, slumping in his seat.

Kasamatsu doesn’t say anything, and that’s when Himuro makes the connection. “Wait, you’re not any relation to Kasamatsu Youji are you?”

“He’s my father,” Kasamatsu says.

“You’re joking,” Himuro says. “Then you _must_ know something.”

Kasamatsu narrows his eyes. “All I know is that the world is better off now that Teiko no longer exists.”

That is certainly _not_ all he knows, but Himuro won’t press.

“What’s his father got to do with anything?” Kagami asks.

The others look at him in astonished horror.

“Taiga, don’t tell me you’ve been going to a school with a Miracle all this time and never once looked them up?” Himuro asks.

“I did!” Kagami insists. “I just only paid attention to the important stuff. Like what positions they play in basketball.”

Himuro snorts. That’s his idiot little brother for you.

*

Kasamatsu actually gets a text from Kise, announcing the meeting is over, so they all leave the café at the same time.

Himuro is finishing up exchanging phone numbers with Takao and Kasamatsu when Kise bounds towards them.

“Senpaaiiii!” he wails. “I missed you!”

Kasamatsu fends off Kise’s outstretched arms and Himuro feels a pang of envy. Murasakibara is never that affectionate.

“Takao-kun?” Kise says, spotting Shutoku’s Point Guard. A dangerous glint in his eyes appears. “What are you doing here?”

Takao cowers behind Himuro and Kagami. “Absolutely nothing! Pure coincidence! I’m here with Himuro-san!”

“That’s right,” Himuro comes in to save his new friend. “We arrived together.”

Takao shoots him a look of gratitude.

“Oh. Well then. Senpai, let’s get lunch! I’m starving!”

“Arara? Murochin? Why are you with Kagami?”

The rest of the Miracles descend upon the group. Himuro would be really excited, if he didn’t have the feeling that this was going to end disastrously.

Murasakibara heads straight to him and tugs on his sleeve. Himuro obediently hands over a bag of snacks.

“What the hell?” Someone new says belligerently. “Do you _all_ have human pets? Even you, Murasakibara?”

Himuro looks for the source of the voice and sees Aomine Daiki.

“Dai-chan!” Momoi Satsuki chides. The only one missing is Akashi Seijuurou. Probably a good thing.

“Please do not call them that, Aomine-kun,” Kuroko says quietly at Kagami’s side.

“No, this is super gross,” Aomine says. “I can’t believe you guys. Is it a sex thing? Is that it? Are you fucking them?”

Himuro stiffens. Takao’s eyes widen at the accusation.

“Shut up, Aomine,” Midorima snarls.

“Because that would at least make sense! Even if it _is_ gross. If you just want a pal, get a dog. It’ll be more loyal in the long run.”

It’s like the humans in the group are frozen in place. No one can speak in their own defense; everyone just quietly watches the exchange.

“Aomine-kun is _wrong,_ ” Kuroko insists. He’s the first one to stand in front of Aomine.

“Because you’ve got a dog, right Tetsu? I don’t know why you need two pets—”

“Stop it,” Kuroko says. His voice remains steady and toneless, there’s nothing that overtly indicates his anger. Except clearly he _is_ mad. “Humans are not our enemy anymore, Aomine-kun. Humanity is not so horrible as you want to believe. There is a lot of kindness in humans.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go _that_ far, Kurokocchi,” Kise says.

“There might be some good ones, but don’t be a fool, Kuroko,” Midorima says.

“Kurochin should just do what Akachin wants already,” Murasakibara says. “It’s annoying.”

“We are _done_ discussing this,” Kuroko says. “I refuse. I am happy at Seirin.”

Aomine snorts. “Because humans are great, right? Then why don’t you fucking smile, Tetsu? Why don’t you laugh? If you’re pissed, why don’t you hit me? Don’t stand there telling me how great humans are when you can’t even fucking raise your voice. You’re just as broken as the rest of us! Or do you need to be _scrapped_ before you start to realize—”

When someone finally hits Aomine, everyone seems surprised by the fact that it’s Momoi. Himuro especially. He was betting on it being Kagami.

“Don’t you _dare_ talk to Tetsu-kun like that!” Momoi says, tears in her eyes. “ _None_ of you have the right to talk to Tetsu-kun like that! Sometimes—sometimes I wish we’d just _left_ you all in Teiko! If you’re so unhappy with the way things are now, then you should have just stayed there!” She breaks off in a sob and then turns around and runs.

“Oi, Satsuki!” Aomine calls after her. He chases after her. Aomine is the fastest man on earth. Himuro has no doubt he’ll catch her.

Takao laughs. “Well, _that_ was awkward. I’m going home.”

“Takao—” Midorima starts.     

“No, you know what? This human pet is done for the day. I’m walking home.”

“Takao!” Midorima leaves, chasing after the Point Guard.

Kasamatsu sighs. “Well, that went as bad as expected.”

“Senpai, you know I don’t mean _you,_ ” Kise pleads. “Or Youji-san, or Mizuki or Ren—”

“I know, I know. I just wish you cared a little more about anyone else,” Kasamatsu says, resigned. “Come on, Kise. Let’s go home. I still have to make dinner.”

“Kuroko?” Kagami looks around. “Where did Kuroko go?”

Himuro blinks. The smaller boy is _gone_ , like he’s teleported away.

“Kurochin is upset,” Murasakibara says, sounding bored. “He always hides when he’s upset. You won’t find him. Minechin shouldn’t have mentioned scrapping. That was mean.”

“I’m going to find him!” Kagami says. “See you later, Tatsuya!”

“He _won’t,_ ” Murasakibara says, sounding disgusted. “He’s just wasting time.”

“What exactly is Kuroko’s ability?” Himuro asks.

“Hm? He’s forgettable.”

“Forgettable?” Himuro repeats. That sounds… kind of lame, really.

There is a quiet, as Himuro tries to process what exactly just happened. The only sound in Murasakibara’s chewing.

He’s not offended in the same way Takao clearly was. Or sad, in that resigned way Kasamatsu seems to be. He knows he’s not important to Murasakibara, knows he’s little better than a pet—someone who provides interesting snacks. He’s accepted his role in Murasakibara’s life a long time ago.

“So it’s not just Akashi,” Himuro says. “Aomine doesn’t like humans either.”

“Hm? No, Akachin is much, much worse.”

“What exactly was that about? Does this have to do with what you’ve been meeting about?”

“Akachin wants Kurochin to do something,” Murasakibara explains, to Himuro’s surprise. (He wasn’t expecting an answer.) “But Kurochin won’t do it.”

“I thought you all had to obey Akashi?”

“Yeah,” Murasakibara says. He finishes his snacks and crumples the bag up, shooting it effortlessly into a nearby trashcan. “But Kurochin’s always been stronger than the rest of us. He always disobeys. Come on, Murochin, I’m sleepy. Let’s go back to the hotel.”

*

Losing to Seirin, losing to Kagami—it all hurts more than he was expecting.

The thing that haunts him the most, of course, is the fact that he _hit_ Murasakibara.

_I don’t like being hit._

He sits outside the gym for awhile in a fit of self-loathing. This is what his desire to be the best brought him—his desire for victory. Hitting his friend—hitting someone he cares about. Someone who—

He swallows. He can’t go back to the hotel yet to face Murasakibara. But he doesn’t actually have a whole lot of places he can go.

He sighs. He needs to make a _lot_ of amends.

And he knows where he should start.

*

The conversation with Kagami starts off with the standard awkward stammering—“Taiga, you know—” “Tatsuya, I—” and ends with them declaring they’ll always be brothers and a few (manly) hugs.

Alex is around, staying with Kagami, so the next step is a lot easier. She brings alcohol, which always helps.

“Tatsuya, we’re _minors,”_ Kagami says.

“Like that’s ever stopped me,” Himuro says. “You can’t have any; you’re still in the tournament.”

“I don’t want any!”

*

Alex passes out early on in the evening—she’s drinking hard liquor, so that comes as no surprise. Tatsuya’s only had two beers, so he’s still relatively sober.

He stands outside on the porch with his brother. He knows he’s not going back to the hotel tonight.

“Did you ever find Kuroko? That day we all met at the café on accident?” he asks, because it’s something he’s been waiting for awhile.

“What? Oh. Yeah, eventually. He’s hard to find.”

He won’t find him, Murasakibara had declared with confidence.

Unless he wanted to be found, Himuro thinks.

“Did he tell you what Akashi wanted him to do? Atsushi wouldn’t tell me.”

“Sorta,” Kagami says. “He said Akashi wants him to lose the Winter Cup.”

“What?” Himuro says. “Why?”

Kagami shrugs. He looks like he’s struggling with something. “I don’t know. Something to do with his powers, but I suspect there’s more to it then that. Kuroko doesn’t talk a lot, you know?”

Yeah, Himuro thinks. He knows. It’s almost impossible to get Murasakibara to talk about the other Miracles or his past at Teiko.

“What’s Kuroko like?” he asks.

“Why do you ask?” Kagami asks, and there’s something defensive in his voice that Himuro doesn’t understand.

“I mean, what’s his personality like? What is it like being friends with him? That day we all met at the café, everyone complained about their Miracles but you. And that whole things with Aomine after…”

It’s hard to articulate what it is he’s trying to say.

Kasamatsu had declared Kuroko “the nicest one” with confidence. And it was hard to forget that when the phrase “human pet” was bandied about, Kuroko had been the only one willing to speak on humanity’s defense.

“He’s a quiet guy,” Kagami says off hand. “But he never gives up, you know? I’ve never met anyone like him before. No matter what the odds are, he never quits. And he’s not afraid to stand up to guys bigger and stronger than he is. He’s no coward. And when he’s on the court it’s just, it’s just _amazing.”_

Himuro’s jaw drops. “You like him.”

“W-what?” Kagami sputters, blushing.

“Oh my God, you _like_ like him!” Himuro crows.

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“You do! You have a big gay crush on Kuroko!” Himuro says gleefully. “My God. Were you gay before coming to Japan? Or did Alex and I infect you somehow? Is my Dad right and homosexuality is contagious after all?”

“Shut up!” Kagami says, his face as red as his hair. “It’s not like that! I mean, I’ve never—I don’t—” Kagami’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know if I’m gay or whatever. It’s just—Kuroko.”

Himuro is impressed and also a little annoyed. If you asked him before what Kagami’s sexual preferences were he would have replied, “Basketball,” because Kagami had never shown interest in dating _anyone_ before. He once wondered if Kagami was gay except there’d been plenty of opportunities for Kagami to explore that option too (Alex and Himuro had dragged Kagami to a lot of gay bars when they were in L.A.).

So, on the other hand, he’s ecstatic sexual awakening has finally found its way to Kagami.

But did it have to be _Kuroko?_ Man, what was _with_ that guy? Did everyone he met fall in love with him? Granted, Himuro hasn’t spent a lot of time with the blue-haired kid, and Kuroko is as far from his type as possible without actually having girl parts, but Himuro genuinely doesn’t see the appeal.

Still. He _is_ happy for Kagami.

“And? Have you told him yet?”

“Of course not!” Kagami yells. “We’re in a tournament!”

“Will you tell him after?” Himuro persists. “I mean, I don’t know him, but he seems pretty attached to you.”

“I don’t know,” Kagami says, rubbing his neck. “There’s too many things that could go wrong. I don’t want to mess things up. I’m pretty happy just being with him and playing basketball together. I don’t really think I need anything else.”

Himuro sighs. He _wishes_ he was happy with the way things were with Murasakibara. He wishes he didn’t _want_ so much. He’s never fixated so much on a single person before—usually if things weren’t reciprocated he’d move on to the next person without regret. Now, even sex with other people isn’t ending this weird hang up with Murasakibara.

“So, uh— you and Murasakibara?”

Himuro smiles, because _that_ was strangely observant of his dense little brother. “Oh? Are you asking for _all_ the details, Taiga? Because I’m happy to describe every little thing—”

“Never mind,” Kagami rushes in with, “I don’t want to know.”

*

He spends the night at Kagami’s, and has “hangover coffee” with Alex the next morning as Kagami takes a shower.

“Taiga has a crush, did you know that?” he wastes no time in spilling Kagami’s secrets to their mentor.

Alex snorts into her coffee cup. “I was able to figure _that_ out when he came to L.A. looking for help. It’s adorable, really. Although, I do think it odd that _both_ my cute protégés turned towards men.”

“Yes, Alex. One might even think you had something to do with why we both avoid women,” Himuro teases.

“You were a budding homo when I met you, admit it,” Alex says affectionately. She pauses as she considers and then says, “Although, I will admit I might be slightly responsible in scaring Kagami away from women.”

Himuro laughs.

*

He needs to face Murasakibara eventually, so he finally makes his way back to their hotel, mentally fortifying himself for the confrontation.

“Where has Murochin been?” Murasakibara immediately demands.

“At Taiga’s. I wanted to talk to him about the match.”

Murasakibara’s expression darkens. He sits petulantly in a hotel chair, sulking as he eats his chips. “I hate that guy. I want to crush him.”  
Considering Kagami is a rival for Kuroko’s affections, this comes as no surprise. Perhaps he should have warned Kagami about the potential dangers with his love interest.

The best thing he could do for his little brother is change the subject. So without delaying further, Himuro summons up his courage and says, “Atsushi, I want to apologize for what I did. There’s no excuse for my behavior, and I’m sorry I hope you can forgive me.”

“Eh?” Murasakibara says. “What did Murochin do?”

Himuro flushes. Did he really have to spell it out? “When I hit you. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Hit me?” Murasakibara says, sounding confused.

“During the game?” Himuro clarifies. Did he _forget?_

“That wasn’t a hit, don’t be ridiculous,” Murasakibara looks perplexed. “Murochin, you aren’t serious? Murochin couldn’t hurt me. You’re super weak! Murochin has weak human arms and a weak human body. You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”

Himuro is not entirely sure if he’s being insulted or not. “Well, I still shouldn’t have done it.”

Murasakibara snorts. “Murochin is stupid.”

“Yes, probably,” Himuro agrees. He thinks he’s been forgiven.

Murasakibara doesn’t offer any apologies for what he said. But Himuro didn’t expect him to.

He _was_ being pathetic, after all.

*

Now that he’s reconnected with Kagami, he wants to support him during the rest of the Winter Cup. He calls him (and by extension, Alex) before the Seirin vs. Kaijo game and arranges to meet them for dinner.

He’s waiting outside for them when a guy starts hitting on him.

“ _You’re_ a sexy one,” he says with a dangerous grin. “I bet you’re a real slut for it. What do you say, wanna quick fuck?”

Himuro eyes the guy with masked disdain. It is, horribly enough, not the most inelegant pickup line he’s ever heard, although it’s a first in Japan. Himuro is ashamed to admit that there was a time when he said “yes” to these kinds of offers, if the guy was attractive enough. And if he wasn’t meeting his friends, he might have taken up the offer _now_ (although, he suspects not. There’s something about this guy with cornrows in his hair that he doesn’t like. Himuro’s learned that trusting your instinct’s is key when dealing with random one night stands.)

“Sorry,” he says, smiling politely. “Some other time, maybe. I’m actually meeting my friends right now.”

“Are you?” Cornrow guy says with a leer. “Well, that’s too bad. I figured we might as well have some fun before getting down to business. Oh well, fun can always be had later, yeah?”

And then he punches Himuro in the face.

Himuro isn’t expecting it, so he doesn’t react properly. The guy punches him in the gut before he can even really process what’s happening.

Himuro grew up queer in L.A.—he’s no stranger to fights. This guy punches harder than anyone Himuro’s ever met before—he has strength his lanky frame hides—and Himuro gets in a few swings but mostly gets hit some more. “It’s nothing personal,” his attacker says, grabbing Himuro by his neck—choking him. “I just need to send a message to some old friends.”

“Tatsuya!” he hears Alex shout. She tries to come to his defense but the guy is _quick_ —quicker and stronger than he has any right to be.

“Tatsuya! Alex!”

“Don’t come near!” Himuro shouts. It’s bad enough Alex has been dragged into this (whatever _this_ is) but Kagami _can not_ participate in this brawl. He’s still in the tournament.

He gets hit again, and lands on the ground, coughing as he tries to regain his breath.

A basketball gets thrown at the guy (who catches it) and Himuro looks up in dismay at the thought that Kagami’s risking his place in the tournament for his sake.

But it isn’t Kagami.

Standing next to Kagami is Kise Ryouta, with a strange expression on his face. It’s a mixture of shock, horror, and determined deadly intent.

“ _Gray,_ ” Kise hisses.

His attacker smirks. “It’s Haizaki. Haizaki Shougo, isn’t that the trend, _Ryouta?_ ”          

*

Himuro honestly doesn’t pay much attention to the exchange. He’s in a lot of pain—was that guy on steroids or something?—and he’s worried about Alex.

The asshole saunters away, which is frustrating. Himuro feels like someone should have punched him.

“Tatsuya, are you OK? Do you need to go to the hospital?” Kagami asks.

“No, I’m fine,” Himuro winces. “Alex?”

“I’m good,” Alex says, “Bastard didn’t do much damage. What the hell was that about?”

“I have no idea,” Himuro says. “But I don’t think I feel like dinner anymore. Rain check?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kagami says, his eyes fixed on Kise. “I have a few things I need to do.”

*

Himuro heads back to the hotel and immediately takes a shower. Afterwards, he wraps a towel around his waist and eyes the damage in a mirror. He has a bruise on his cheek and a split lip, and his side looks even worse. Himuro still can’t believe the guy could hit so hard.

The door opens and Murasakibara walks in. “Murochin is back? I thought—” Murasakibara freezes. He _drops_ the bag of snacks he’s holding and his entire demeanor shifts. Himuro hasn’t seen this side of Murasakibara since the Seirin game. “ _What happened?_ Who hit Murochin?”

Himuro smiles, touched by Murasakibara’s concern. “It’s nothing, I’m fine. I—”

Murasakibara glows purple. “ _Who hit you?_ I will _crush_ them!” He slams his fist down on the hotel desk and it _explodes_ —shatters into a thousand pieces.

“Atsushi!” Himuro jumps, his heart thumping a thousand beats against his throat. “Stop! We have to pay for that!”

“Who did this to you?” Murasakibara demands.

Himuro steps forward and reaches out.

Murasakibara steps back. “Don’t touch me now, Murochin. I could hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me,” Himuro says. He places his hands on Murasakibara’s face, cupping his cheeks. “I’m fine, Atsushi. See? I was attacked; I don’t know who he was. Kise knew him. Do you know someone named Haizaki?”

“No,” Murasakibara says, standing very still. “But I’m going to find him and crush him.”

“No you won’t,” Himuro says. “They’ll put you in prison, and I would hate that.”

Murasakibara stops glowing. “Murochin, aren’t you scared of me?”

“No,” Himuro says softly. “Never.”

“I could crush you. Easily. I’m a monster, Murochin. You always forget that.”

“I don’t forget it,” Himuro says. “I’ve just never been afraid of monsters.”

And he doesn’t quite know what he’s doing—later he’ll blame it on being punched in the head—but he leans up and touches his lips gently against Murasakibara’s.

You can barely call it a kiss—it’s the most chaste thing Himuro has ever done. He pulls back and instantly regrets it—Murasakibara just stands there. He has probably ruined everything now.

“Why did Murochin do that?” Murasakibara asks. His voice is deceptively lazy with just the hint of “I will crush you if I don’t like your answer.”

Himuro smiles, because he’s committed to this bad idea now. “Because I like you.”

Murasakibara doesn’t say anything. Himuro wonders if he’s going to be crushed after all.

“Because I have super powers,” Murasakibara says flatly. “Because Murochin is a fanboy. It didn’t have to be me. You’d have kissed Minechin or Midochin.”

Himuro snorts. “No, I really wouldn’t have. Trust me.” He should, perhaps, feel insulted by Murasakibara’s accusations, except he understands why the other boy might feel that way.

The fact that _this_ is what Murasakibara is focusing on…

“I like you, Atsushi. Because of who you are. I like spending time with you and feeding you and playing basketball with you. And I’m happy to just keep doing those things with you. But I’m a greedy man, and sometimes I want more, I want all of you. But you don’t need to worry, though. I won’t ever ask you to give me more than you can.”

“Murochin does, though,” Murasakibara cries out. “Murochin asks too much from me, all the time. It’s bothersome and I hate it, I hate you, I hate you so much.”

And then Murasakibara encircles his arms around Himuro and kisses him desperately, hungrily, greedily, like he’s never wanted so much as he wants right now.

*

“Murochin,” Murasakibara says, sounding so very desperate. “I don’t know what to do.”

Himuro smiles into Murasakibara’s skin. “Don’t worry. I do.”


	5. Chapter 5 ~Interlude~

_JSDF Days (Then)_

During their stay at the JSDF base, the Miracles had a reoccurring debate about whether or not they were capable of feeling love.

It was shortly after watching the News segment where someone claimed they _couldn’t,_ because they were made in a lab.

Like almost all the debates, it was pretty much Momoi against the rest.

“Of course we can love!” she said. “We’re still _people._ ”

“Momoi, you should know better than anyone that we are what we are designed to be,” Akashi said.

Momoi clenched her fists because _of course_ they’d throw _that_ in her face.

She had hacked into Teiko’s old databases—found all their old files, and mistakenly let the boys read what she’d found. She regretted this ever since.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Momoi said.

“We know how tall we are going to be, how much we will weigh, what we will look like, what our sexual interests are—everything about us was predetermined and designed.”

“Not what we _feel,_ ” Momoi said. “Tetsu-kun! Back me up on this!”

Kuroko had been quiet the entire debate. “Actually, Momoi-san, I am not entirely sure I am capable of love.”

“ _What?”_ Momoi exclaimed. She was not alone in her surprise—it was very uncharacteristic of Kuroko.

“ _Not_ because I do not think I am human,” Kuroko said. “I believe I am human. I believe we are capable of feeling just as much as a human can. I only doubt whether I, personally, could fall in love. Because of how I was trained.”

“That’s _stupid,_ ” Momoi said. “You love, Tetsu-kun. You love more than anyone else I know.”

“If Kurochin can’t love, there’s no hope for the rest of us,” Murasakibara said. “Anyway, this is boring. Love is boring. What’s even the point?”           

*

Its not that Kuroko didn’t _want_ to believe he could love; he just had a hard time rationalizing that it could be possible.

“I can’t believe you would say that,” Momoi said. “ _You._ What about Ogiwara-kun?”

“He was my friend. That isn’t love.”

“It’s a kind of love! I _love_ you, Tetsu-kun! And Dai-chan. And the rest, even though they’re idiots. I _loved_ White, even if I didn’t know the word at the time. You can’t tell me you didn’t love Orange.”

“Yes,” Kuroko said quietly. “I loved Orange. But I was a different person then.”

“But—” Momoi started.

“I read a lot of books. I think love is something even humans don’t understand, not fully. But the books—love is always this maddening, desperate thing. It runs deep and powerful. I do not think I am capable of such extremity. Not anymore.”

“But you _do_ love,” Momoi insisted. “Even if it can’t be as intense as it is in books, you do love.”

Kuroko considered this. “Yes, I suppose you are right.”

“Good! Then back me the next time it comes up!”

And maybe that’s enough to satisfy Momoi—that Kuroko _can_ love, even if it is in his usual subdued fashion.

But Kuroko can’t help but feel like it would be nice if he _could_ have extremes. If he could have passion. If he could love someone so much he wanted to be consumed by them.

It wasn’t possible. He knew that.

Even if it _was,_ he would never allow himself to feel that way about anyone.

He would never take that risk.

*

It had all the makings of an incredibly tedious debate, and Midorima was not expecting Kise to be the first one to switch sides.

“We can absolutely love!” he announced triumphantly.

“Oi,” Aomine said. “What’s with the abrupt turn around?”

“Senpai said we could!”

“Oh, well, if _Senpai_ said so,” Midorima said scathingly. “Then it must be true.”

“It is true!” Kise insisted. And then, to everyone’s dismay, he continued with, “Because I’m in love with Senpai!”

Everyone groaned.

“You’re not in love with him, you just want to fuck him,” Aomine said.

“I love him _and_ I want to fuck him,” Kise said. “The two are not mutually exclusive!”

“You are fond of him,” Akashi said. “Like a pet. People are always attached to their pets, but that isn’t love.”

“And how would _you_ know?” Kise said sulkily. “You haven’t been in love.”

Everyone paused and considered the fact that Kise was actually defying Akashi.

“I have,” Kise said, sounding belligerent. “I’m in love with Senpai, therefore I know more about this subject than anyone else here.”

“If you’re obsession is an indicator of what love is like, I don’t want it,” Midorima vowed.

“Agreed,” Murasakibara said.

“You guys don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Kise. “Unlike me. Because I’m in love. With Sen—”

“God, Kise, shut up!”

*

“You’re reasoning is inherently faulty,” Midorima said later, in that lofty way of his. Like he knew everything just because he tested well in math and science. “Just because Kasamatsu Yukio said we were capable of love, does not mean we are. Why do you always believe everything he says, anyway?”

Kise shifted uncomfortably. He _knew_ the others couldn’t stand his “Senpai talk,” but he couldn’t help himself. But when it came to talking about it in a _real_ way, well. That was a lot more difficult.

But Midorima was looking at him with genuine curiosity on his face, so Kise figured he might as well answer.

“Do you remember that scientist at Teiko with the ponytail and the glasses? The one who was in charge of the Yellow Projects?”

“Yes?” Midorima said.

“She once said I was a lie. Everything about me was a lie; I was created to deceive and that’s all I’d ever be. But Senpai he—he always sees me, no matter what. I think it’s because, Senpai always sees the truth. And he always _speaks_ the truth. I can’t imagine that guy ever lying. So if he says we can love, I believe him.”

Midorima didn’t look convinced, but that was fine.

Kasamatsu had the most amazing eyes. A clear grey that shined blue when the light hit just right. Sometimes when Kasamatsu looked at him it sent shivers down his spine—Kasamatsu could see right through him, through everything.

“I want to be with him, always. Only him, forever. If that isn’t love, what is it?” Kise said.

Midorima didn’t have an answer.

“Anyway, Midorimacchi, do you genuinely think we’re not capable of human feelings? I mean, really?”

Midorima pushed up his glasses and looked away. “Actually, I am in agreement with Kuroko. The rest of you might be capable of it, but I do not think I am. The Green Sevens—we just weren’t raised to care about other people. I couldn’t—I just _couldn’t_.”

Kise felt a pang of sympathy, because Midorima and Kuroko were probably right. It was probably the same for Akashi, too. The training Green, Red and Black went through pretty much made human connections impossible.

It was different for the Yellows, though. Maybe the Yellow Sixes were designed to deceive, but that also meant they could interact with humans convincingly. Kise was sure that meant that out of all of them, surely _he_ could love.

And he was sure. Kasamatsu Yukio was the only thing he was sure of.

*

“So humans have this thing—nature vs. nurture, right? I think that means there’s nothing in our nature that means we can’t love, we just weren’t nurtured properly.” Kise sounded very pleased when he brought this up, like he’d spent hours researching this and now he can lay things to rest.

It was so _tiring_. So incredibly annoying and exhausting and it made Murasakibara want to crush everything.

“It’s the wrong question,” Murasakibara said irritably. Everyone looked at him. “It doesn’t matter if _we_ can love, does it?

“No one could ever love us.”

Everyone grew quiet. Not even Kise could protest that.

*

Everyone had their bad days. The JSDF was remarkably tolerant of this fact.

Murasakibara threw fits on his bad days—broke things, smashed everything to pieces. Everyone just avoided him on these days and it was fine.

Momoi would shut herself up in her room with twenty computers. Aomine would be on the rooftop and ignore everyone. Their days were mild, compared to everyone else.

Midorima’s bad days were always days where Cancer was ranked last. He would usually hide in his room, clutching his lucky item for the day, and if anyone dared approach they’d be bombarded with books and blunt objects.

Kise’s bad days were always on the days when Kasamatsu Yukio hadn’t visited in awhile. He became unbearable to deal with, and usually ended up walking around in Kasamatsu’s body wearing a sign that said, “I am Kise Ryouta.” Looking like Kasamatsu seemed to be a safety blanket for him, so that was usually enough to get through his worst days.

Akashi didn’t exactly have bad days. He just never really had any good ones, either. You never knew if it was safe to approach him.

No one knew what Kuroko did on his bad days. Largely because when Kuroko had bad days he would disappear entirely, and everyone forgot him until he returned.

*

Love (Now)    

Kuroko knows the exact moment he falls in love with Kagami.

It starts when Hyuuga tells him that Kagami believed in him. He’d spent a few agonizing days thinking that Kagami was leaving him behind (like the Miracles did), that he had no place, that he never had a place. That there was no where he belonged. No where he was needed. Finding out Kagami still believed in him—

It was more than he ever expected.

But that was just the start of things. The exact moment was when Kagami draped his arm over Aomine’s shoulders and declared that Seirin would win.

This man isn’t going to back down, Kuroko thinks. Not from anything.

And maybe that’s what he wanted—someone who won’t ever back down. Someone who will fight by his side, against any opponent.

This realization terrifies him—inasmuch as anything terrifies him. He does not want anything precious. He cannot allow himself to have anything precious.

And there’s this _thing_ with Kagami. A shared look, a lingering touch, a furtive glance away, a blush. Kuroko _feels_ something for Kagami, and he’s willing to bet it’s reciprocated.

But he can’t. He _can’t._

So he stays be Kagami’s side—he plays basketball with him, he eats with him, he studies with him.

But he will not go any further than that.

*

Murasakibara never once thinks of it as “love.”

He knows what all the Miracles know—he is a monster. They all are. The only difference is—he can’t hide it like the others. People see him and they are afraid. Even the soldiers and doctors at the JSDF were afraid of him. They kept their distance, and that’s the way it _should_ be. The thought of being Kise—having to _always_ wear a mask of friendliness and charm—is exhausting. He doesn’t want to love someone if it means always having to pretend.

When Himuro enters his life—the first human to approach him, to talk to him, to feed him, to smile at him—he doesn’t think of the word “love.” He likes being around Himuro, because Himuro has snacks and smiles, and it’s nice.

Himuro seeks him break things—sees him crush things, sees his anger. But Himuro never stops smiling.

(It is unsettling. The only people who never showed fear around him were the other Miracles, because they knew they could hold their own in a fight against him. And Kuroko. But Kuroko wasn’t afraid of anything, so he didn’t count.)

It’s not love—even when he kisses Himuro ferociously and sucks at his skin and holds on to him like he’s the last real thing in the Universe, he doesn’t think of the word “love.”

Afterwards, they lie there in the dark, and Murasakibara confesses everything. _Everything_. Because he won’t be Kise, he _won’t._ Himuro needs to know.

Himuro just listens. Himuro always just listens. Murasakibara wonders if he’s crying, like that day in the locker room. But it’s dark, so he can’t see.

He wonders what Himuro will say. Will he push him away? Will he forgive him?

Himuro reaches out in the dark and touches Murasakibara’s face. “Atsushi, didn’t I tell you? I want all of you. Your past, your future. Everything you are.”

Murasakibara closes his eyes and nestles into Himuro’s neck, breathing in his skin.

There are monsters in this world. Murasakibara knows he’s one of them. But what he never expected to find is that there are people in this world who love monsters. Against all odds, he’s found one of those people, and he’ll crush the whole world in order to keep him.

And that’s perfectly fine with him.

*

Midorima didn’t think it was love—the possibility never even occurred to him—until the day Kise pulled his terrible prank.

That day Takao approached him looking shy, but grinning his Takao smile and said, “Shin-chan, I like you,” and Midorima had stared at him for a full minute, his heart beating fast. “Takao—” he’d started to say, and then he saw the triumphant gleam in Takao’s eyes and grew suspicious.

Then “Takao” glowed yellow, and there was Kise, laughing at him. “So you _do_ like him! Midorimacchi, I’m so proud of you!”

“ _Kise!”_ Midorima snarls. He raises every object nearby—pencils, pens, scissors, sharp sticks, and points them all in Kise’s direction. (It’s times like this he wished the JSDF had let him kept his knives.) “ _Die.”_

“No, no, wait! Stop! Don’t kill me!” Kise shifts back into Takao. “You can’t kill me if I look like Takao-kun, can you? Come on, Midorimacchi, I just wanted to see if you liked him! This is a good thing! It means you’re a man! We should celebrate! Let’s eat some red bean rice!”

Midorima sends one of the pencils flying, cutting Kise’s cheek, as intended.

“Ow! I’m a model! Don’t scratch a model’s face!”

“I am going to kill you now,” Midorima says calmly.

“Wait! I’ll make it up to you! How about I suck you off as Takao? That’d be fun won’t—Gah!”

Kise goes flying as he dodges more projectiles. He glows yellow and is Kise again.

“I’m _sorry!_ Stop trying to kill me!”

Midorima contemplates his options. He really wants to kill Kise. But what would he do with the body afterwards? It’s probably more of a hassle than it’s worth.

“What was the point of this?” Midorima demands.

“I was curious!” Kise says, then he dodges as Midorima flicks another pencil at him. “Wait, just hear me out! You always said you didn’t think it was possible for you to love! I just wanted to see if that had changed!”

“I’m not sure why you think this is a reason I cannot murder you,” Midorima says. “I’m still pretty sure this is something I want to do.”

Through all of his intense desire to kill Kise, he hasn’t had the proper time to process what is actually a life-changing revelation.

He likes Takao. _Likes_ him.

The items drop to the ground and he stops glowing. There is sheer relief on Kise’s face as he no longer stares into the face of his own death.

“I fail to see how this is a good thing,” Midorima says bitterly.

Kise’s face falls. He gets up from his cowering position and wipes off his pants. “I know this isn’t going to mean much coming from me, but I _like_ the fact that I love Senpai. It’s—it’s something that can’t ever be taken away form me, you know? I might not be human, but I have this.”

“But he doesn’t love you back,” Midorima says bluntly.

Kise flinches. “No. He doesn’t. He won’t ever, I guess. I accept that now. Takao-kun won’t either.”

“ _You_ don’t need to tell _me_ that,” Midorima says, bitterness still thick in his throat.

Takao won’t be his, not ever. This revelation is ultimately meaningless; he wishes he never had it.

Kise sighs. “Things probably would have been a lot easier if we just fell in love with each other.”

“ _That_ would never happen. I’d rather die.”

“Oh, Midorimacchi, always the tsundere—wait, wait, I take it back! Stop trying to kill me!”

*

Kise has spent so much time wanting he can barely remember a time what it’s like not to _ache_ so much.

(Is this what he left Teiko for? This terrible never-ending desire? But it is, it must be. He would choose this a thousand times over, he never wants to go back to a life before he wanted Kasamatsu Yukio.)

He thought things might be better once they lived together, once they shared the same room, breathed the same air. And to some extent, this is true. Seeing Kasamatsu every day is a soothing balm—Kise doesn’t have as many bad days anymore, doesn’t feel the need to destroy everything he touches. As long as he has Kasamatsu nearby, Kise can control himself.

But his desire doesn’t lessen—it gets worse. Everything is magnified; he is hyper-aware of Kasamatsu and everything he does. Sometimes he lies in bed at night, just listening to the other boy breathe. It takes all his control not to climb in bed beside him.

(This is his big fear—that one day he won’t be able to control himself anymore, and he’ll take what he’s not allowed. But he can’t, he won’t risk it, can’t ever cross that line.)

He knows the others call it obsession—and maybe he is obsessed. But he doesn’t care. Kasamatsu Yukio is the first thing Kise Ryouta ever _wanted_ —his desire for the other boy is what makes him Kise and not GM-Y626. He doesn’t want to let that go, not ever.

The worst thing is that _everyone_ knew. No, the worst thing is that everyone knows _but_ Kasamatsu. Kise is hardly subtle—the entire basketball club knows about his obsession. Kasamatsu’s _family_ knows, his little brothers know. How is it possible that Kasamatsu alone remains clueless to how Kise really feels?

(It’s because you’re not even on his radar, Kise tells himself bitterly. You don’t have a chance, you never did.)

Everyone respects Kise’s claim and stays away from Kasamatsu, which Kise figures is the way things should be. He doesn’t regret being so open with his affections.

Until the day he does.

He’s doing his homework—something he hates to do but Kasamatsu is very hesitant he stays on top of—when Kasamatsu walks into their bedroom.

Kasamatsu walks up to him and sits on his lap. Kise jerks in surprise, eyes widening. “Senpai—?”

Kasamatsu leans up and aggressively kisses Kise. Kise pulls back—hardly believing his own actions—because something is _wrong._ “Senpai, what?”

“What’s the matter, _Ryouta?_ Don’t you want me?” Kasamatsu says, his eyes hard and cruel.

And then he licks his thumb, running it across his lips.

Kise gets up, Kasamatsu tumbling to the ground.

“ _Gray,”_ he snarls.

Kasamatsu—no, _Gray_ laughs, getting up from the ground. “I told you, it’s Haizaki now.”

Kise grabs him by the collar, and pulls him forward. “Get out of him. Now.”

“Or you’ll what? Hit me? Hit your precious Senpai?” Haizaki challenges.

What had he been thinking? When he saw Gray again—did he really think that was going to be the last of it? Stupid, _stupid!_

“Don’t push me, Gray,” Kise warns.

“Relax, Yellow. I’m just here to talk.” Haizaki pushes Kise’s hand away. “Man, it’s been forever! Lighten up, we’re old friends, aren’t we?”

“Say what you want and leave,” Kise says. He’s so angry he’s shaking. Gray—Gray alive and _in Kasamatsu._ He can’t stand it.

“Seems like you seven caused a lot of trouble,” Haizaki says with a smirk. “Got a lot of people thinking you’re something impressive. _Miracles,_ right? Tell me, do your human pets know what you were _really_ doing at Teiko?”

Kise refuses to react.

“I thought not. Do you ever think about what your escape meant? How many others _died_ because you ran away?”

“Shut up,” Kise says. “It’s not like you care.”  
“You’re right,” Haizaki says. “I don’t. But it doesn’t seem fair that you lot get to pretend you’re normal; play happy human life. You’re a murderer, Yellow. I can’t have you forgetting that.”

“I don’t,” Kise says. “Believe me.”

“No? But you deserve to _suffer,_ Ryouta. You’re a sinner, all of you. And you _should_ be punished.”

“By _you?_ ” Kise says incredulously.

Haizaki’s face ( _Kasamatsu’s_ ) twists in to something ugly. “By all of us who suffered because _you_ thought you were _better._ But I’m going to hurt you, Yellow. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

“You can’t beat me,” Kise scoffs. “You don’t stand a chance.”

“No?” Haizaki smirks. “I’m not going to _beat_ you, Yellow. I’m going to take away everything you love.”

And then he begins stripping.

Kise watches in horror—it’s a fantasy turned into a nightmare. Kasamatsu without his shirt on, Kasamatsu’s hands traveling over his body, playing with his nipples.

“Stop that!” Kise yells, grabbing Haizaki. “Stop touching him!”

“I’m going to do more than that, _Ryouta,_ ” Haizaki says. “I’m going to fuck your pet, Yellow. And then I’m going to break him, and make sure he knows it’s all. Your. Fault. I’m going to kill this entire happy family of yours.”

“Not if I kill you first,” Kise vows.

“Don’t be stupid, Yellow. You’re not a protector. You can’t save _anyone._ They’re never going to see me coming. And. Neither. Will. You.”

Kasamatsu’s body glows gray, and then he slumps to the ground. Kise catches him as he falls.  

“Senpai? Senpai, are you OK?”

“Kise?” Kasamatsu blinks, and Kise feels a flood of relief. “What the hell just happened? Why am I shirtless?”

Kise’s heart beats fast. He’s never been so scared and desperate. “You, uh, hit your head! It’s OK, I’ll go get some ice.”

He bounds up before Kasamatsu can ask any more questions.

He stands in front of the freezer, trying to compose himself.

First things first, he needs to track Haizaki down.

And kill him. Slowly.


	6. Chapter 6

The day in front of the café, when all the Miracles and their human friends (Kagami refuses to think the word “pet”) met, Kagami finally learned more about Kuroko’s ability. Until that day, he never put too much thought in to it.

He desperately looks for Kuroko all over and finally finds him in front of a basketball court.

“Don’t disappear like that!” Kagami yells.

“Was Kagami-kun looking for me?” Kuroko says.

“Of course I was!”

“I am sorry. I did not mean to worry you.”

“What the hell was that about anyway?” he asks, still seething from the encounter.

“I apologize,” Kuroko says. “Aomine-kun should not have said those things.”

“Don’t apologize for him, I just want to know what it all _meant_ ,” Kagami says. “Murasakibara said Akashi wants you to do something?”

Kuroko looks away. “Yes. Akashi-kun wants Seirin to lose the Winter Cup.”

“What the hell?” Kagami says.

“More specifically, he wants me not to play at all,” Kuroko clarifies.

“Why the hell is that any of his business?” Kagami demands.

Kuroko clenches his fists. “It is _not._ But Akashi-kun feels that my abilities will lose their effectiveness if I am too much in the spotlight. Which, if I play and Seirin wins the Winter Cup, is a possibility of occurring. And he believes I am more useful to the Miracles if the world remains ignorant of my presence.”

“I am so confused right now,” Kagami says. “What _is_ your ability, anyway? You said it was like invisibility, right?”

Kuroko tilts his head up at Kagami. “Is it a kind of invisibility, yes. It is more accurate to say, it is a selective amnesia-inducing power.”

“What?”

“It is better if I demonstrate,” Kuroko says. He glows black and—

—disappears.  

Kagami stands, staring, thoroughly confused. For a few seconds, he has no idea what he’s supposed to be seeing, what he’s even doing here.

Kuroko reappears.

Kagami flails. “Gah! That was—what _was_ that? You totally disappeared!” Right? Only—he frowned. But he _didn’t_ disappear; he’d been there the whole time.

“I did not disappear. You never once stopped physically seeing me. I only made you… forget about me, for a moment.”

“What?” Kagami says again.

“While my power was activated, you forgot I existed. So your mind registers that you don’t see me, even though I have not disappeared from sight. Anyone looking at us would still see me standing in front of you, unless I was deliberately trying to hide from them too. But I am not powerful enough to erase my presence from too many people at once.”

Kagami tries to process this. “You can erase people’s memories?”

Kuroko gives him a small smile. “Only their memories regarding myself. I cannot do anything near so grand as to erase other kinds of memory. And even then, it is not a permanent erasure. It is quite a useless ability. It loses effectiveness against people who know me well, and it only works if I am not drawing attention to myself. I told Kagami-kun, I am the weakest out of all the Miracles.”

He’d seen Kise transform into a perfect copy of another person; he’d seen Aomine speed across like the Flash, and he’d seen Midorima’s telekinesis. It was all the stuff of comic books, and he had to admit Kuroko’s ability _did_ pale in comparison.

But Midorima had said Kuroko was the strongest. That’s what Takao said, anyway.

“So if we win the Winter Cup, is your ability not going to work anymore?” Kagami asks.

“It might not be as effective,” Kuroko replies. “But I do not care. The only thing that matters is winning with Seirin.”

“We will win,” Kagami says automatically. He hesitates, and looks awkwardly away. “Hey—can you promise not to use your thing on me again?”

“Did it disturb Kagami-kun?” Kuroko asks, politely.

“No, it’s not that. I just—I don’t like the idea of _forgetting_ you. Even for a second.”

Kagami’s embarrassed by his own words. Kuroko looks down, his expression impossible to read. “Yes, Kagami-kun. I promise I won’t use it on you anymore.”

*

When Kise stops Himuro and Alex’s attacker, Kagami has a lot of questions. “Who the hell was that?” he demands first off, because that seems like this best place to start.

“A ghost,” Kise says, “Don’t worry about it, Kagamicchi, I’m going to take care of it.”

“Like hell,” Kagami says. “That guy hurt my brother and mentor!”

“You have other things to worry about, Kagamicchi,” Kise says breezily. “Like our upcoming game. How’s Kurokocchi doing, lately? Still determined to win?”

“Of course!” Kagami says, indignantly. “I don’t care what that Akashi guy says, we’re winning the Winter Cup no matter what!”

“You’ll have to go through Kaijo first,” Kise says. His face sobers. “Hey, Kagamicchi, how is Kurokocchi at Seirin? Does he ever laugh?”

“What?” Kagami says, thrown aback by the sudden change in topic. “No, not really.”

Kise sighs. “He still doesn’t show his emotions, does he? I thought he might, but I guess he won’t, even around you.”

“He’s just not an expressive guy,” Kagami says defensively.

Kise smiles sadly. “If only that was it. Ah well, forget I said anything! Rest up for our game, Kagamicchi! Kaijo will have its revenge!”

It’s only later Kagami realizes Kise completely threw him off topic.

*

Kagami returns to Seirin’s side with a lot on his mind. He doesn’t mention anything, because they have their upcoming game to think about.

After the victory against Kaijo, he walks home with Kuroko. “Hey, Kuroko?”

“Yes, Kagami-kun?”

Kuroko doesn’t talk about Teiko. He will talk about the other Miracles, and the time they spent at the JSDF base, but his past is still a mystery. Kagami respects this, and never pries. That’s what makes this question so difficult to ask—his desire to respect Kuroko’s silence.

But this is important, so he plunges forward. “Sometimes when you’re with the other Miracles, you call each other by the English words for colors, right?”

The others slipped occasionally and called Kuroko “Black.” He’d never heard Kuroko mess up, not once. But Midorima had called Aomine “Blue” once; and yelled “Yellow!” at Kise. He figured out the trend.

Kuroko hesitates with his reply, and Kagami hates that he had to ask.

“Yes, that is correct,” Kuroko finally replies. “That was how we referred to each other back when we were at Teiko. We did not have names then, only designations. I was GM-B452. But everyone just called me Black.”

Kagami swallows hard. Kuroko’s never opened up like this before. In that pause, he must have decided to trust Kagami with this.

“Was there someone at Teiko you called ‘Gray?’”

Kuroko stops walking. Kagami turns back to look at him and startles.

Kuroko’s eyes are widened with shock. He almost looks… _afraid._

“Where did you hear that name?”

“From Kise,” Kagami says grimly. This confirmed the worst of his suspicions. “Someone attacked Tatsuya the other night and Kise intervened. He called the guy ‘Gray.’ The other guy said his name was Haizaki something.”

“That is impossible,” Kuroko says. “Gray is dead.”  
Kagami shrugs. “They seemed to know each other. What was his ability?”

He hates talking to Kuroko when he’s like this, because his face goes impossibly blank, like an empty doll. From the snide comments Aomine has made, and Kise’s bitter remarks, Kagami figures this must be a defense mechanism of Kuroko’s, something he carefully cultivated.

“The Gray Elevens were created before the Yellow Sixes,” Kuroko explains, and his voice sounds incredibly faraway. “And they were deemed Successful first. They were bodysnatchers.”

“Body—?” Kagami bites out.

“Gray could take over a person’s body for a limited time. His victims had no idea they were being controlled. But once Kise developed his Perfect Copy ability, the Gray Elevens were deemed obsolete.”

There is a lot there. But Kagami senses he’s already asked too many questions, and that’s probably all he’s going to get from Kuroko for now.

“That is a _terrifying_ power,” Kagami says.

Kuroko nods his head once. “It also left the Gray Elevens… unstable. They were all vicious. If the man who attacked Himuro-san _was_ Gray, promise me you will not approach him on your own, Kagami-kun.”

“I won’t go looking for a fight,” Kagami says with a scowl. “But if he tries anything, I’m fighting back.”

“I hope it does not come to that.”

So does Kagami. He has a bad feeling about all of this.

The Miracles are bad enough—they might be annoying and assholes, but they’re not _evil._

But what if they weren’t the only ones who escaped Teiko?

*

“There are two Akashi Seijuurous,” Kuroko explains the night before the Rakuzan game. “Due to things that were done to him at Teiko, a second Akashi developed as a defense mechanism.”

“His ability was Absolute Order, right?” Hyuuga asks.

“Yes,” Kuroko says. “That is his main ability. When activated, he can give any command and he is instantly obeyed. It is a kind of hypnotism.”

That is probably the scariest ability Kagami has ever heard of—even more than bodysnatching.

“But that is not all. I told you, there are two Akashi Seijuurous. He has a second ability.”

“I thought you said it was just another personality?” Riko asks.

“Not quite. There _are_ two of them—it is really too complicated to explain. I never understood it properly myself. His second ability is premonition.”

“Absolute Order and the ability to see the future,” Izuki says. “That’s a frightening combination.”

“Indeed,” Kuroko says.

“And he’s playing basketball just to make sure you lose?” Kiyoshi says. “That’s a powerful grudge.”

Kuroko hesitates, which Kuroko has come to recognize is his way of stalling for time as he decides how much he wants to reveal.

“Akashi-kun hates humans probably more than any of us,” Kuroko starts. “And he has always loathed the fact that I am fond of them. I had a friend at the JSDF base named Ogiwara Shigehiro. Akashi-kun and the others tormented Ogiwara-kun when I was sick one day—psychological torture, might be more accurate to say. Akashi-kun would do the same to any human I was fond of.”

_Another_ one with a weird Kuroko fixation, Kagami thinks. He wishes Kuroko had mentioned this sooner. It certainly explains why Akashi had attacked him with scissors.

“This doesn’t change anything. We’re still going to win tomorrow,” Kagami says.

No way in _hell_ is he going to let Akashi try and rule Kuroko’s life.

*

After the others leave, Kuroko hangs back in his apartment. Kagami figures Kuroko still has something he wants to say, so he leaves him alone to formulate his thoughts.

“I have complicated Kagami-kun’s life needlessly,” Kuroko announces out of nowhere.

“What are you talking about?” Kagami asks, thoroughly confused.

“Because I wanted to play basketball. If I wasn’t playing, the other Miracles would not be playing. Kagami-kun would not be the target for their wrath.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Kagami says. “There’s not a single person on the team who thinks that way! We _like_ playing with you!”

Kuroko doesn’t say anything.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been thinking we resent you this entire time?! Have you kept yourself distant from us on purpose?”

Kuroko rubs his wristbands. “I had a friend in Teiko. Orange. GM-O394. We were like brothers.”

Kagami leans back. He’s heard Orange mentioned before. Both Kise and Aomine had called Kagami and “Orange replacement” at one point or another.

“Am I… like him?” Kagami asks.

“The others have said so, but I have never thought that,” Kuroko says, to Kagami’s relief. “He was loud like you, and a bit of an idiot, and he could jump high. But physically you are nothing alike, and I think your personalities are very different.

“Orange was very optimistic. He loved people. He got along well with everyone, even the scientists at Teiko. The others have never understood it, but the person I am is the person I think Orange would have liked to be. I believe in people because he did. I like humans because he showed me that I should.”

Kuroko stops talking. Kagami doesn’t know why he’s telling him this, but he doesn’t dare say anything. If he says the wrong thing, Kuroko might stop talking entirely, and then Kagami will never know what Kuroko was trying to say.

“I told Kagami-kun that my powers are less effective if I draw attention to myself,” Kuroko says when he starts talking again, as if he’s changing the subject entirely.

“Yeah?”

“The Teiko scientists knew this. They wanted to develop my powers, make me as effective as possible. They ordered me to stop showing emotions—if I was expressionless, I would be easier to overlook. And the easiest way to ensure I would not show emotions was to make sure I did not feel them.”

“They couldn’t stop you from _feeling,_ ” Kagami protests.

“They could,” Kuroko says. He takes off his wristbands.

Kagami stares.

Kuroko’s wrists are rubbed completely raw—there are deep red welts encircling them, like shackles that had burned into his skin.    

“I wore shock bracelets for the first eleven years of my life. They monitored my heartbeat. If my heartbeat elevated—if I felt fear, or anxiety, or happiness—the bracelets would send an electric shock that would go through my entire body. The more I felt, the more painful the shock. I learned not to feel anything.”

Kagami doesn’t know what to say. He’s never felt such a loss of words.

“Those _assholes!_ ” he blurts out without thinking. Kuroko looks startled. Kagami clenches his fists. He’s _angry._ He wants desperately to punch the Teiko scientists in the face.

“Yes,” Kuroko says, sounding pleased.

“How could they do something so horrible?” Kagami wonders. To a _child,_ no less. To _Kuroko._

“They did not see us as human,” Kuroko says quietly.

Kagami wants to hit something but there’s nothing to hit. His fury has nowhere to go.

“When Orange died… I reacted badly. It was the last time I ever expressed my emotions. I yelled and the shocks through my body nearly killed me, but still I could not stop screaming.

“Akashi-kun saved me then. He Ordered me not to feel, so I did not. If he had not intervened, I might have died.”

Kagami tries to picture this, but it’s too sad. “Why are you telling me this now?”

Kuroko considers this. “I want Kagami-kun to understand our battle tomorrow. Akashi-kun is doing what he thinks is best. And I must win, because I believe he is wrong.”

“I always intend to win,” Kagami says.

Kuroko nods his head. “Yes, I know. Perhaps I also wanted for you to understand Teiko a little better. The thing is, Kagami-kun, I am afraid I have dragged you into my affairs. Not just with Akashi-kun, but with all of Teiko. You are involved now, and you do not know what you are up against. I wish—”

He stops talking. Kagami knows what he was going to say anyway.

_I wish I hadn’t involved you._

He knows they’re not talking about basketball anymore. No matter what happens in the Rakuzan game tomorrow, it won’t end there. Kagami can sense it—just like Kuroko can. There is a storm coming.

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Kagami says quietly. “I’m your light, remember? My place is by your side. We were comrades from the start, Kuroko.”

There’s so much more Kagami wants to say and ask and do.

But he’ll wait.

(He doesn’t entirely understand what Kuroko was trying to tell him with his story. But he can’t help but feel that it was somehow a rejection. Kuroko’s way of saying, “This is why I can’t be with you.” He’s not sure. So he’ll wait and take things one step at a time. Starting with winning the Winter Cup.)

*

They win, and Kagami has never felt so happy. The only thing better would be if he could wrap his arms around Kuroko and kiss him right there, in front of the entire stadium of people.

*

The days that follow are peaceful. Kagami begins to think all his feelings of foreboding were just paranoia after all.

But when things do go wrong, it is a spectacular disaster, and Kagami never sees it coming.

It starts in a convenience store.

Kuroko and Kagami are buying sports drinks for the whole team—it’s part of a punishment game Riko designed when they were the last to practice.

When Kagami hears the gunshot, he doesn’t process it right away.

Kuroko does. Kuroko tackles Kagami to the ground, and they both crouch there as the gunman waves his gun in the air, demanding all the money in the register.

Kagami can’t believe this is happening—in _Japan_ no less. He almost expects gun violence to happen in America, but it’s practically unheard of in Japan.

And something’s wrong with the gunman. He looks crazed—like a rabid animal. This isn’t just a robbery—he’s already shot one person, he looks ready to shoot everyone in the store. Kagami positions himself in front of Kuroko almost unconsciously.

But Kuroko stands up and steps away from Kagami. Kagami tries to grab Kuroko to pull him back down, but Kuroko steps out of his grasp. Kuroko glows black and Kagami stops trying to pull him back. It takes every ounce of restraint he has, but he knows if he does anything to stop Kuroko it will only call attention to him, and make his power less effective.

He admires and curses Kuroko for his heroic tendencies.

All he can do is watch in horror as Kuroko approaches the gunman. He’s ready to spring to Kuroko’s aid, but he’s not sure what he can do. He wishes, for the first time, that he wasn’t just a normal human.

Kuroko makes his move—quicker than Kagami thought possible—striking the man’s hands and knocking the gun to the ground.

The man lets out a surprised shout and swings widely, hitting Kuroko in the face and scrambling for his gun.

Kagami leaps for the man. A second shot rings in the air but Kagami focuses on the man—punching him in the face repeatedly until he’s unconscious.

When he turns back he sees Kuroko on the floor, bleeding.

*

Hours later, Kagami sits in a hospital looking with five sixths of the Miracles, plus their human partners.

He had to give police statements, and call the Seirin members to tell them what happened. He’d wanted to follow Kuroko into surgery, but the doctors wouldn’t let him.

“It is just my shoulder, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko had said in a mild voice. “I will be fine.”

But Kuroko was _shot._ How was that fine?

“Kurochin will be fine,” Murasakibara announces lazily. “It’s not like he hasn’t been shot before. Remember Cairo?”

There had been other people waiting in the lobby, but they had vacated quickly when panicked Miracle after panicked Miracle started piling in.

(Murasakibara and Himuro had been conveniently visiting Tokyo. Kagami’s just glad Akashi isn’t around; he has a feeling the hospital staff couldn’t handle an enraged Akashi Seijuurou.)

Kagami looks up at this announcement, feeling very alarmed.

“Oh, _Cairo_ _,_ ” Aomine snorts. “Man. Who _didn’t_ get shot in Cairo?”

“True,” Kise says brightly. “Cairo was much worse. Kurokocchi took a gut shot, if I recall.”

“It was different,” Momoi says, subdued. “We had White then.”

The humans in the room share a mutual look of—what the actual fuck?—because the Miracles are talking about getting shot like it was all perfectly normal.

“Still. Kurokocchi’s sturdy. He survived much worse,” Kise says confidently.

Yeah, Kagami suspects he has.

Conversation sort of dies after that. Everyone’s pretty much only talking to the people they came in with, leaving Kagami alone with his worry. He’s wondering why his brother is holding hands with Murasakibara and when _that_ particular development happened when Midorima yells very loudly in a scandalized voice, “ _I am not in love with Kuroko!”_

Everyone looks at him. A hospital staff worker half-heartedly tries to shush him but she doesn’t really seem too concerned with disciplining the Miracles.

“Sure you are,” Takao says. “Look, I’m just saying, I know you must be worried, but Kuroko—”

“I am _not,_ why would you even think such an absurd thing?” Midorima says insistently.

“Uhh…” Takao says, glancing around the room looking for help. “It’s kind of obvious? I mean, I just sort of assumed all of you Miracles are in love with Kuroko, so…”

“What? That’s stupid. No one’s in love with Kurokocchi,” Kise says.

_“I_ am!” Momoi declares.

Aomine rolls his eyes. “No, you’re not.”

“You’re not?” Kasamatsu says in surprise, looking at Kise.

Kise gapes at him. “ _What?!_ Senpai! Are you joking? You thought I was in love with _Kurokocchi?_ ”

“Murochin thought that too?” Murasakibara asks.

“Well. At first,” Himuro says apologetically.

“Eeehh? No way. Gross.”

“Look, you all have a Kuroko Complex, you can’t deny that,” Takao says defensively. “If you’re _not_ in love with him, just what exactly is your hang up?”

Silence descends. The Miracles all look away, with deeply uncomfortable expressions on their faces. Kagami, Takao, Kasamatsu and Himuro all look like they’re trying to hide just how desperately they want to know the answer to that question.

“You really haven’t figured it out?” Midorima speaks first, sounding irritated. “Kuroko’s the one who broke us out of Teiko.”

The humans in the room all look at one another, verifying that this is, in fact, news to everyone.

“It was Kurochin’s plan,” Murasakibara puts in. “He planned everything, made all the arrangements. If it weren’t for Kurochin, we’d all probably still be in Teiko.”

“He could have left us, you know,” Kise says. “It would have been a lot easier. He could have escaped on his own and they’d probably never been able to find him. It wouldn’t have been such a huge production; the JSDF wouldn’t have gotten involved, and the world would have never known about Teiko.”

“So it’s just gratitude?” Kasamatsu says.

The Miracles fall silent again.

Kise’s the first one to speak up, and he has such a complicated smile on his face. When he speaks he sounds sad, but also self-deprecating. Kagami has never heard him sound so bitter. “Oh, no. It’s not just gratitude. Kurokocchi was so much stronger than us. It’s hard to see him sometimes, without remembering how superior he is.”

No one knows what to say to that.

“Teiko controlled us through fear,” Midorima says. “Room 101. They stole the idea from George Orwell’s _1984,_ but we didn’t know that at the time. They sent us there as punishment. In there, we each experienced our worst fears. Just going there once was traumatizing enough. I was sent there three times, and it nearly broke me. I didn’t dare do anything to defy Teiko. I wouldn’t have risked being sent back to Room 101.”

“It wouldn’t have occurred to any of us to run away,” Kise says. “I had to go Room 101 once and that was all it took. Like Midorimacchi said, just once was enough to break us, keep us in check. But Kurokocchi—I lost track of how many times he was sent to Room 101.”

“Twenty-three,” Aomine says softly. “He was sent there twenty-three times.”

“But it didn’t break him,” Murasakibara says. “He still defied Teiko.”

It’s like a dam has broken, and all the Miracles can finally confess something they’d been holding in for ages. The humans can’t do anything but listen to their frenzied confessions. This is a world they know nothing about; they are not a part of whatever this is.

Kasamatsu looks at Kise, Takao looks at Midorima, Himuro can’t take his eyes away from Murasakibara. Kagami looks at all of them. The humans aren’t shocked to hear about the atrocities Teiko has committed, which leads Kagami to believe they must have heard something about it before.

“That’s not all,” Momoi announces abruptly, startling everyone. As all eyes turn towards her she glares at everyone defiantly. “If you’re going to tell them your sins, tell them _everything._ It’s not admiration you feel towards Tetsu-kun. It’s _guilt._ ”

None of the Miracles will meet anyone’s eyes.

Momoi waits for someone to speak up, but when it’s clear that no one will she holds her chin up and says, “You _abandoned_ him. You were all just going to let him die.”

“Satsuki,” Aomine warns.

But Momoi has momentum now, and it’s clear she’s not going to stop until she’s said what’s on her mind. “You knew, you _knew_ they were going to scrap Tetsu-kun! And once you worked _together_ but as soon as _you_ were all deemed Successes you were just going to let them kill him!”

“Whoa,” Takao says. “What?”

Momoi has a wild look in her eyes, like she’s been wanting to get this off her chest for awhile. “That was Teiko’s goal—to produces _successful_ experiments. The best, the most powerful, the strongest. Anyone who didn’t live up to their standards was scrapped—killed and dissected for the betterment of future projects. Tetsu-kun was a failure, but the others all convinced he could be useful. Until they didn’t _need_ him anymore, until they all grew so strong they didn’t need _anyone._ Then they _all_ stopped helping Tetsu-kun, even though they knew what that would mean for him.”

“You say it like we had a choice,” Kise protests. “We couldn’t control what the scientists did.”

“But you could have tried harder to help him,” Momoi insists stubbornly.

“It’s easy for you to say,” Midorima says harshly. “You didn’t have the same pressure to excel as we did. We _couldn’t_ save him. We could barely save our—” Midorima bites back his words, looking away.

“You were drowning,” Takao says softly. “And you had to let others drown.”

Midorima jerks his head in a nod, but he doesn’t raise his eyes, like he’s afraid of meeting anyone’s gaze.

“Tetsu-kun saved _you,_ ” Momoi says.

“You think we don’t understand that?” Kise shouts, getting to his feet. “Because we get it. Kurokocchi is better than us, he’s stronger than us, you don’t need to rub our weakness in our faces—”

“Don’t be stupid!” Kasamatsu snarls.

Everyone looks at him.

“So Kuroko defied them, and you didn’t. That makes him _better_ than you? You’re _all_ survivors. There’s not a single one of you that’s _weak._ You went through hell and you _survived._ That makes each of you the strongest person I know—and that has _nothing_ to do with your abilities.”

“Senpai,” Kise says, dumbstruck.

All of the Miracles are looking at Kasamatsu with awe on their faces.

“And you were children,” Himuro says. He’s speaking to everyone, but he’s looking only at Murasakibara. “I was a horrible child, just ask Taiga, and I had far less reason to be. You can’t beat yourselves up for what you did or didn’t do when you were kids.”

Murasakibara doesn’t respond, but he never lets go of Himuro’s hand.

Momoi looks like she’s about to start crying at any moment. She probably didn’t mean to be cruel. She probably felt just as helpless and desperate as the rest of them, and it’s hard to let go of that.           

Kagami thinks he gets it though. They were saved by the person they had left to die. No wonder they were all a little obsessed with Kuroko. It’d be hard _not_ to both love and hate someone like that.

*

By the time Kuroko is allowed to see visitors, everyone else has gone home. They’d heard the news that he was alive and well and decided to depart.

Kagami had to see Kuroko; verify that he was fine with his own eyes. Kuroko’s arm is in a sling, but he looks remarkably unaffected by the whole thing.

“It was not a serious wound. The doctor said I will still be able to play basketball after I recover,” Kuroko says.

“Idiot,” Kagami says affectionately, ruffling his head. “That shouldn’t even be a concern right now. You could have died. What were you thinking?”

“Kagami-kun did all the actual heroics,” Kuroko points out.

“Only because you’d already distracted him! That was seriously dumb.”

Kuroko looks completely unrepentant. “He already shot one person. I was sure he was going to shoot another. Maybe everyone there. There was something wrong with that man.”

Kagami agrees, but he still doesn’t like it. He takes one look at the stubborn expression on Kuroko’s face and sighs. “Just don’t take any more unnecessary risks, OK?”

“I thought I could handle it,” Kuroko replies, which is not an agreement.

Kagami makes a frustrated noise but he gives up. He could argue with Kuroko all day and never change his mind.

“Your friends were here,” he says.

Kuroko looks at him blankly.

“The Miracles,” Kagami clarifies. “We were talking about you.”

“And what did they say?” Kuroko asks.

“Nothing I didn’t already know,” Kagami says with a shrug. “That you’re amazing.”

He thinks Kuroko blushes.


	7. Chapter 7

Takao thinks his relationship with Midorima is pretty good, which is why it comes as a surprise when he approaches him one day and is immediately raised to the air by a choking invisible grip around his neck.

“Sh-Shin-chan!” Takao chokes out.

“Are you Kise or Takao?” Midorima demands.

“Takao!”

He drops to the ground and Midorima narrows his eyes. “Prove it.”

“What the hell?” Takao demands. “Are you kidding me right now? You assaulted _me_ and I’m supposed to prove myself to you?”

Midorima looks away, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Sorry.”

Takao looks at him curiously. “What did Kise _do?_ I’m assuming he was pretending to be me.”

“A prank. Just a stupid prank,” Midorima says viciously. “And if I see him again, I will murder him.”

“Fine. I’ll help,” Takao rolls his eyes. “Also, pineapples.”

“What?”

“It can be our codeword. The next time you want to verify it’s me, just ask for the codeword and I’ll say pineapples. You don’t need to fling me in the air.”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Midorima says.

“You don’t need to sound so impressed,” Takao says dryly. “It has been known to happen every now and then.”

“Asking for a codeword seems a tad obvious,” Midorima says, ignoring Takao.

Takao contemplates this. All things considered, if Kise’s around, having a code phrase isn’t a bad idea. “The key will be asking, ‘What’s your sign.’ If someone’s pretending to be me, they’ll say Scorpio. If it’s me, I’ll say pineapples. And vice versa.”

Midorima nods. He’s still refusing to look at Takao.

“Man, what did Kise _do?_ ” Takao asks. “It must have been bad.”

“Nothing important.”

“You know it wasn’t _me_ , right?”

“Yes,” Midorima says and he sounds almost… bitter? “I know.”

“Well, don’t take it out on me then.”

Life was so much less complicated before superpowers.

*

“Are you sure you just want to go home without seeing him? The doctor said he could probably take visitors soon,” Takao asks, while marveling at his own ability to speak and peddle at the same time. His lung capacity has really improved over the past months.

“I have nothing to say to him,” Midorima says. “He was an idiot for approaching a gunman unarmed.”

Takao huffs but he’s not going to comment, not after their frenzied confessions in the hospital lobby. He’s still not entirely sure how to process all the information.

He wished he’d been able to _say_ something back at the hospital. He resented, a little, how easily Kasamatsu and Himuro had been able to say the _right_ thing. After Kasamatsu had spoken, Kise looked like he’d just been saved by an angel—all the Miracles seemed to take the words as a blessing and a forgiveness that they all desperately needed.

But Takao wasn’t good with words like that. And he wasn’t good at giving quiet support like Himuro either.

It seemed like the only thing he was good for was peddling a rickshaw. And it’s not like Midorima really _needed_ him to do that either.

He pulls up to Midorima’s house and wishes one last time he knew what the right thing to say was.

“You would have helped him,” Midorima says out of no where.

“What?” Takao says.

“If it had been you in Teiko. You would have helped Kuroko.”

Takao laughs. This is the wrong reaction—Midorima has his affronted cat expression—but Takao can’t help himself. “I have no idea what gave you _that_ idea, Shin-chan. I am not a nice guy.”

“You are,” Midorima says, annoyed.

“I’m not, though. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad guy or anything. I try not to be an asshole, but that doesn’t make me a saint. I’m just a normal person.”

“You helped me.”        

Takao frowns. Midorima isn’t looking at him—hasn’t really looked at him ever since the confessions in the lobby. He’s not sure what Midorima’s talking about.

“The snow globe,” Midorima adds, shifting uncomfortably.

“That wasn’t—” Takao struggles. “I just did what anyone would have done.”

Midorima looks so frustrated and Takao’s not sure why. Once again, he wishes he had Kasamatsu’s knack for understanding what hurts them. (Maybe, Takao thinks snidely, you should have listened to your mother when she said to be kind to the Miracles. Maybe if you hadn’t given up so easily then you would understand him better now.)

“Shin-chan, I don’t know what happened at Teiko, or what you did there. I’m sure there’s way more to the story than what Momoi said. But you’re not a terrible person. Whatever you did in the past—you’re a good guy now, and that’s what matters.”

“Am I?” Midorima says. And he looks at Takao for the first time all evening. “Am I a good person?”

“Of course you are,” Takao says. The weight of Midorima’s stare is too much for him—this whole evening has been too heavy. So he laughs and slaps Midorima on the back. “You’re a weirdo, Shin-chan, but you’re a good guy. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

“Right,” Midorima says. “See you tomorrow.”

*

The thing is—the whole Midorima Thing is a little too intense for his comfort. Midorima is broken in ways Takao can’t even begin to understand and any time he catches a glimpse of that, Takao can’t help but despair with his own uselessness.

And it doesn’t help that it takes half a school year for Takao to realize just how wrapped up in Midorima’s life he’s become—to the point of neglecting his _own_ life. He has other friends, sure, but he spends so much time with Midorima he might as well be one of his lucky items.

He doesn’t realize how this comes across to his classmates until he runs into his ex-boyfriend on the Kendo club.

Their breakup had initially resulted in nothing but awkward encounters. But neither one of them is the kind of person who hangs onto resentment for too long so they exchange pleasantries now.

Takao thinks about how long it’s been since he last had a boyfriend—hell, he can barely remember the last time he even made out with anyone—and in a fit of nostalgia invites his ex out to lunch.

Yamamoto just chuckles nervously. “Better not. Your boyfriend seems like the jealous type, and I’d rather not get on his bad side.”

“My what?” Takao exclaims. “My who?”

“Your boyfriend. You know, tall guy? Green hair? Glasses? Superpowers that means he can kill you with his mind?”

“ _Shin-chan_?!” Takao gapes. He has no words. “There—what? No. Just—no.”

“He can’t kill you with his mind?”

“Oh, he totally could. _We’re not dating._ ”

Yamamoto laughs. “No, seriously.”

“Seriously!” Takao says, still gaping. “He’s not even—I mean, Jesus. He doesn’t even like me most days. Why would you ever think we’re dating?”

“You’re really not?” Yamamoto says, like he still thinks Takao must have it wrong.

“Dude, you know me. If we were, I wouldn’t be denying it.”

“True,” Yamamoto says, still sounding doubtful. “But you’re always with him.”

“We’re in the same club,” Takao says.

“But, I mean, you’re _always_ with him. You drive him around in a rickshaw.”

“That’s for training,” Takao says.

“You eat lunch together. You study together.”

“Because he’s smart,” Takao says feebly.

“You guys just have this—vibe, you know? A couple’s vibe.”

“You’re imagining things.”

Yamamoto shrugs, “I dated you, remember? You look at him in a way you never looked at me.”

“That’s just absurd,” Takao protests, but even he realizes how weak it sounds. “He looks at you too.”

Takao laughs—because that _is_ ridiculous. “You really _are_ imagining things. Shin-chan just sees me as a servant.” Or a pet, he thinks bitterly. “He would never even glance my way.”

“But you want him too, right?” Yamamoto persists.

“Now you’re just being hilarious,” Takao says breezily. “Anyway, if you don’t want to get lunch, just say so. But Shin-chan’s not going to kill you with his mind if you do.”

“I’m still not going to risk it,” Yamamoto says. “If you can’t see it, that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t. The girls in my class have been shipping you all year. I’ve even seen some fanart.”

Well that’s equal parts alarming and intriguing.

*

He has come, over these past months, to realize that Midorima doesn’t like to touch anyone. He will go out of his way to avoid human contact, and the basketball club has learned not to include him in celebratory hugs.

It’s something he wishes he could tell his fourteen year old self—Midorima wasn’t rejecting _you,_ he was rejecting everyone. Maybe it would have made a difference.

Takao will insist on pressing his luck every now and then—slapping Midorima on the back, occasionally dropping himself over his shoulders. The first few times resulted in repeated rebuffs but now Midorima puts up with it for a few seconds, tense and angry the entire time. Takao counts this as a huge success.

Midorima tolerates his presence like he tolerates bad weather and homework. Takao knows better than to think they’re friends.

But after the encounter with Yamamoto, he can’t help but think maybe he’s spending too much time with Midorima.

He’s mulling this over in his head when Midorima receives a text. Takao doesn’t pay any attention to it until Midorima makes a strangled sound.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Murasakibara has a boyfriend!” Midorima exclaims. “ _Murasakibara_.”

“Right?” Takao says. “Himuro Tatsuya.”

“You _knew?_ How did you know?”

“They were holding hands at the hospital,” Takao says incredulously. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean dating,” Midorima protests. “I thought Himuro was just being… overly supportive.”

“Himuro had huge hickies on his neck,” Takao says, “He looked like he’d been gnawed on by a bear.”

“Excuse me for not paying attention to his neck,” Midorima snaps. He has a thoroughly disgusted expression on his face. “I can’t believe it. _Murasakibara_ of all people. He hates humans almost as much as Akashi!”

Takao stiffens as he figures out the source of Midorima’s disgust. So Midorima doesn’t like the fact that his friend is dating a human, does he?

“And he’s lazy!” Midorima continues. “How does he even—I just can’t believe this.”

Takao frowns, trying to figure out what Murasakibara’s laziness has to do with anything.

“Is it so weird that he’s dating a human?” Takao asks crossly.

“What?” Midorima says, his thoughts momentarily derailed.

“I mean, Himuro was looking at him like the guy hung the moon or something. That’s what’s really important. Just because he’s human, doesn’t mean—”

“I don’t care that Himuro’s human,” Midorima blurts out. “Of course Murasakibara would date a human. Humans are pretty much our only option, unless we date _each other_ and _that’s_ certainly not going to happen.”

Takao blinks. “Well, Kuroko—”

“I am not in love with Kuroko,” Midorima thunders.

“Or Akashi—”

Midorima shoots him a look of pure contempt and disgust. “I would rather gouge out my own eyes.”

“You’d date a human, really? _You?_ ”

“I am not the issue here,” Midorima says.

“I’m not even sure what the issue is,” Takao exclaims, still reeling at the thought of Midorima dating _anyone_. “If you don’t care that he’s dating a human, what exactly is your problem?”

“The fact that he’s dating anyone!” Midorima waves his hands in an exasperated motion. “I can’t believe out of all of us _Murasakibara_ got a boyfriend _first_.”   

Takao stares at him for five seconds. And then he bursts out laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Midorima exclaims.

Takao laughs so hard his sides hurt. “It is! It really is! I can’t believe you’re _jealous!_ ”

“Stop that! How dare—I’m not jealous!”

“But you are!”

“It’s just the principle of the thing!” Midorima insists. “I just wouldn’t have thought _Murasakibara_ of all people could successfully woo a partner!”

“He probably didn’t,” Takao says, still chuckling. “If I know anything about Himuro, he probably made the first move.”

“Well that’s even more absurd,” Midorima says, still sounding disgusted. “I can’t even—Murasakibara. There is no justice in this world.”

Takao looks at him curiously. Now that his initial amusement has faded, he really thinks about the implications of Midorima’s jealousy. “Shin-chan, do you want to date someone?”

“Of course not!” Midorima sputters, in that way of his that really means, “Yes.”

Takao is floored. He’s not sure why, but he’s never really thought about the Miracles dating anyone. With the possible exception of Kise, it didn’t really seem like the Miracles would be interested in romantic pursuits. And _Midorima?_ That guy didn’t like to _touch_ anyone, how could he possibly date?

He snorts as he remembers how his classmates seem to think Midorima’s dating _him_. Yamamoto’s right, everyone at Shutoku has come to this conclusion. Takao’s few cursory attempts at flirtation have all ended with nervous glances and protestations regarding Takao’s “jealous boyfriend.”

“Hey Shin-chan, do you think you’d be a jealous lover?”

“Excuse me?” Midorima sputters, like Takao’s just asked him what kind of underwear he prefers.

“You know, like Kise. Kise threatened to kill me just for talking to Kasamatsu-san. Murasakibara strikes me as the kind of guy who’d be possessive too. I’ve seen him with his snacks.”

Midorima falls silent as he ponders Takao’s question. “And you? Are you possessive?”

“Me?” Takao laughs; surprised Midorima’s returned his question. “Not particularly. Maybe I’ve just never date anyone I’ve really wanted to keep, though. Still, it might be nice…”

“What?” Midorima prompts.

“Being kept.” Then Takao blushes at his own words. How ridiculous. He’d be happy if he just got a boyfriend who wouldn’t mind being seen in public with him. “Anyway, you never answered my question. Don’t think you can wiggle out of this one, Shin-chan.”

Midorima looks away. “Probably.”

“What was that?”

“Yes, probably,” Midorima snaps. “I’d want to keep my lov—I’d be jealous. Not in Kise’s disgusting obsessive way. But I’d want—the person I loved—to love only me.”

“That sounds pretty normal,” Takao says. He still can’t believe he’s having this kind of conversation with Midorima. It’s so _normal._ “Hey, what’s your ideal girl? Tall? Short? Big breasts?”

“Shut up, Takao.”

“No, no, we’re having a moment! Come on, Shin-chan, dish! Is there someone in our class you have an eye on? I could be your wingman!”

“Be quiet, fool. I’m done talking about this absurd subject.”      

“Shin-chaaan.”

*

Now that Takao’s thinking about how long it’s been since he last had a boyfriend, he can’t stop thinking about how nice it would be to have a regular make-out partner again.

Finding someone at school is pretty much a lost cause. Even if he had the chance to flirt in between basketball practice and class, Midorima’s pretty much always around, and everyone _still_ thinks they’re dating, no matter how many times Takao tells them they’re not.

So he wouldn’t exactly say he’s out cruising for a casual pick-up, but he does know a few hang-outs in Tokyo where he’s more likely to find people open to same-sex flirtations. It’s a risky move, since he’s not looking for a sugar daddy or some other middle aged perv, and he’s also not looking to get punched in the face. (He’s also dimly aware that there is a serial killer roaming the streets; his mom repeatedly warned him against staying out too late. But he’s not an idiot, it’s not like he’s going to follow a stranger home or anything. He just wants a normal night, and maybe talk to a normal guy, and maybe make out with someone in a normal way. Besides, serial killers seem unreal, things that happen to other people.)

His evening’s looking pretty good—he’s been casually flirting with a boy wearing a Fukurodani school uniform all night, and it seems like any moment now things might progress towards making out and casual groping.

But then Fukurodani boy gets a phone call and has to leave. Takao manages to swap phone numbers, so the night’s not a total bust, but he’s sixteen years old and incredibly sexually frustrated. He blames this, unfortunately, on Midorima.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

Takao turns towards the direction of the voice and then stares.

“ _Shin_ —”

His voice dies.

The man standing in front of him looks like Midorima— _exactly_ like Midorima. But—

 _Not_ Midorima.

He’s not wearing glasses, for one thing. And his hair is slicked back with gel in a way Takao can’t picture Midorima ever trying. There’s also something… cold about his eyes. He stares at Takao with marked interest, practically leering. But there’s something dangerous in his gaze—it makes Takao shiver.

“It’s a shame for someone as cute as you to be alone,” the Midorima imposter says. “You must let me buy you a drink.”

“We’re underage,” Takao says lamely.

The imposter smirks and motions at the bartender, who brings them two cocktails without batting an eye.

He’s not speaking with Midorima’s ridiculous “nodayos” either. He isn’t Kise—Kise’s copies were perfect, down to mannerisms and expressions. Unless he’s playing some elaborate prank? But why would he pose as an obviously fake Midorima?

Takao forces a smile. Just to be safe, he says, “So stranger, what’s your sign?”  
The mystery man raises an amused brow. “Cancer. Don’t tell me you actually buy in to that sort of stuff?”

“Not really,” Takao says. Definitely not Midorima. And not Kise. What the hell is going on right now?

“I’ve been watching you all evening,” he says, in a thoroughly creepy fashion. “You seemed so lonely. Someone isn’t taking very good care of you.” He reaches out and runs a finger down Takao’s cheek, and ends up cupping his chin. “If you were mine, I would never leave you so starved.”

Takao shivers again—in a truly strange mixture of desire and fear. The man looks and sounds mostly like Midorima—Takao can’t help but react to that, he’s always found Midorima ridiculously attractive. He wanted him when they were fourteen and that want has never really gone away, no matter how hard Takao wishes it would.

But at the same time, something is definitely not right here. His heart is racing, and it’s like the time the basketball club surrounded him in middle school. Takao had known then he was in danger before anyone ever threw a punch, and he knows he’s in danger now. The fake Midorima has that same deadly air about him that Kise did when he was casually telling Takao he’d never see him coming.

Distantly, in the back of his mind, he starts having a conversation with himself.

 _Remember how there’s a serial killer roaming the streets of_ _Tokyo_ _?_

_No, no way, that’s not what’s happening here._

_Right? Riiiiight? That’s not something that happens to normal people._

_Your best friend is telekinetic. What part of your life is “normal?”_

_Crap._

“I’m not,” Takao says, licking his lips and trying to act braver than he feels. “I’m not anyone’s.”

“No? I don’t think that’s true,” he says huskily.

Takao swallows. He pulls his head back and leans away. He forces a smile. “Nope, entirely single. Thanks for the drink, but you know, it’s getting kind of late, and I should probably go home.”

The fake Midorima grips Takao’s arm. “But we only just met. I think we could have a fun night together, you and I.”

Takao winces as the pressure on his arm increases. He’s not going to react. He’s not. “Some other time, definitely. But it’s a school night and I have a curfew! Plus, my Mama always told me not to put out on the first date. It makes men respect you less.”

The fake Midorima chuckles. “You _are_ fun. I think I will make you mine. But I wouldn’t want you to think I didn’t respect you. So some other time.”

The grip on Takao’s arm is incredibly painful now, and the fake Midorima pulls him forward. All of the sudden Takao is being forcibly and expertly kissed. He still doesn’t react, doesn’t pull away or respond, just let’s the man’s lips play against his.

“I’ll see you again, Kazunari,” the fake Midorima whispers into his ear. Then he lets Takao go and just like that he walks away.

It takes Takao another half hour before he can move again.

*

He’s fully ready to call last night some bizarre nightmare when he wakes up the next morning, but he still has bruises on his arm. Five of them, like fingerprints.

Takao considers the possibilities.

Option one: Kise has lost his mind. Unlikely, because if Kise was going to murder Takao he’d be a more convincing Midorima. Option two: _Midorima_ has lost his mind. Also unlikely, since Midorima is practically blind without his glasses, and the imposter hadn’t been wearing any. Option three: Midorima has a crazy split personality, Akashi style, one who can somehow see without glasses. Option four: Midorima has an evil twin.

Takao can’t believe that this is his life right now.

When he gets to school he flinches at the sight of Midorima and chides his own reaction. He’s not afraid of _Midorima,_ he’s not.

“Hey Shin-chan!” he says with forced cheer. “Did you have a good night last night?”

“It was fine,” Midorima says in his curt fashion.

“Did you go anywhere?” Takao prods. It’s not like he expects Midorima to say, “Oh, yes, I played a nasty prank on you at a bar, wasn’t that hilarious?” but honestly, it’d be kind of nice if he did.

“No. Naoko made me marathon this ridiculous Nineties anime about girls who run around in short skirts defeating evil.”

“She made you watch _Sailor Moon_?” Takao says, delighted.

“She says I am Sailor Pluto,” Midorima says, in that disgusted way of his that really means he’s pleased.

“No way, because you have green hair? If anything, you’re Sailor Neptune.”

“That one hasn’t come in yet,” Midorima says.

“You’ll like the Death Busters arc. There’s lesbians. It’s awesome.”

“Why does it not surprise me that you’ve watched the show?”

“Hey, I have a little sister too, you know,” Takao defends.

Midorima is, despite all odds, actually a pretty good big brother. Takao’s seen him braid Naoko’s hair in the morning using telekinesis; it’s adorable. She adores her “Onii-sama” and even started carrying lucky items around to emulate him.

If he was up late marathoning _Sailor Moon_ , he was probably not trolling the streets and fucking with Takao’s head.

*

“What happened to your arm?” Midorima demands.

Takao pauses mid-change in the locker rooms. He’s surprised by how quickly Midorima zeroes in on the bruises. The hard edge in his voice gives him flashbacks to last night, which causes his heart to flutter rapidly in a convolution of mixed feelings. He finishes putting on a plain shirt for basketball practice, and when he looks up again Midorima is _right_ _there,_ hovering over him.

He reaches out like he wants to touch Takao’s arm but of course he doesn’t. “Was it your middle school club again?” he asks, with lethal undertones.

Takao hesitates. “I’ll tell you after practice. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Midorima narrows his eyes in a dissatisfied manner. Takao knows better than to read too much into Midorima’s protective streak. Whatever else might be said about the Miracles, they all seem pretty universally territorial over things they consider “theirs.” For Midorima, that includes pretty much all of Shutoku.

They’re both distracted during practice—something the Third Years pick up on and yell at them for.

By the time practice is over, Midorima is practically radiating killing intent. They wait for the others to leave, so when they finally head out it’s just the two of them.

“You’re _scared,_ ” Midorima announces as soon as he gets the chance. “Is someone threatening you? Is it one of the other Miracles?”

“Simmer down, Shin-chan,” Takao says. He purses his lips as he tries to figure out how he’s going to explain last night. He figures there’s no polite way to ask, “Do you have a split personality?” so he settles on the less offensive, “Do you have a twin brother?”

He’s not sure what he’s expecting—but when all color disappears from Midorima’s face and the Miracle looks _terrified_ Takao knows he really, really wishes for a different reaction.

“Why would you ask that?” Midorima demands. “Who told you?”

“I think—I think I met him, last night,” Takao says.

“Impossible,” Midorima says fiercely. “He’s _dead._ What exactly happened? Tell me everything.”

Takao instantly decides he is not, in fact, going to tell Midorima everything. He’s not sure how he would explain the kiss and he definitely gets the feeling that he shouldn’t try. “I met _someone_ who looked like you. Exactly like you, only without glasses.”

“It was Kise,” Midorima insists. “He’s gone too far. I will kill him.”

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, though. He looked like you, but it clearly _wasn’t_ you. Kise’s copies are perfect, right? Why would he look like you but pretend to be someone else?”

“Because Kise is an idiot and an asshole.” But doubt creeps into Midorima’s voice—doubt and fear.

Midorima whips out his cell phone and turns away. “Kise—shut up for a second—did you pretend to be me last night?—I said _be quiet_ —did you see Takao at all? _Damn—_ Come here ASAP. Yes _here—_ this is a Code Dragon. I need you all here _now._ ”

Takao watches in horror as Midorima then calls every single Miracle and demand they meet him right away—even Akashi Seijuurou.

“Shin-chan, do you really expect him to come from Kyoto?”

“He is in Saitama on business.”

“And Murasakibara?”

“In Tokyo already,” Midorima still looks incredibly tense. Takao has never seen him like this before.

“Shin-chan—what’s going on?”

Midorima’s eyes are hard like steel. “What did he say to you?”

“Your… brother?” Takao guesses. “Nothing much, but…”

“But?” Midorima demands.

“He scared me,” Takao confesses.

Midorima nods once. “He should. We’re all in a tremendous amount of danger.”

*

They wide up in a Denny’s, of all places. There’s a room for large groups and Midorima stakes it out early on. He’s curt with the waitress, and Takao starts ordering food with an apologetic smile.

Momoi and Aomine are the first to arrive, followed by Kagami.

“I didn’t call you,” Midorima huffs.

“Kuroko did. He told me to meet you here—what the hell is going on?”

“This doesn’t concern you,” Midorima insists.

“Midorima-kun said this was a Code Dragon,” Kuroko says, startling everyone. Only Takao had seen him arrive. “If this is true, it concerns Kagami-kun. If Midorima-kun was lying, then I will be very angry.”

“I wasn’t lying,” Midorima scowls.

Murasakibara and Himuro arrive next. Murasakibara and Kagami order an alarming amount of food as they wait for the others to arrive. Kuroko orders a vanilla milkshake.

Kise and Kasamatsu finally join them. Takao notes that Midorima doesn’t question Himuro or Kasamatsu’s right to be here. Kasamatsu sends Takao a questioning look and Takao just shrugs helplessly. He really has no idea what’s going on here. But the last time all the Miracles and their human partners were together—Kuroko’s hospital visit not included—things did not end well.

Finally, Akashi Seijuurou comes in, looking like a dignified prince and horribly out of place in the Denny’s.

“What is this about, Midorima?” Akashi asks without preamble.

“Takao met 7284 last night,” Midorima announces.

This has a palpable effect on the Miracles, who all stiffen—some even seem afraid.

“Impossible,” Kise says. “They killed him after he tried to blind you.”

“Wasn’t it Kisechin?” Murasakibara asks.

“It wasn’t!” Kise says. “I was home all evening, last night. Senpai, tell them!”

“He was,” Kasamatsu says, frowning.

“Maybe it wasn’t 7284,” Kuroko says. “There were five of you—it might have been one of the others.”

“7285 and 7281 died in the initial screening—I _watched_ them die,” Midorima seethes. “And 7284 killed 7282. I saw the body. The only one whose death I didn’t personally witness was 7284. It had to be him.”

“There were _five_ of you?” Takao repeats. Five people who looked like Midorima?

“Oi,” Kasamatsu says, “Does someone care to explain to the humans in the room?”

Midorima leans back resentfully, but he looks at Takao when he starts talking, before facing the group again. “Telekinesis was the easiest ability to induce in the subjects, but it was difficult to reach their intended successful outcome. They wanted someone who both had power—the ability to lift a tremendous weight with their mind, as well as precision—the control and accuracy it would take to manipulate to a fine point. The Green Sevens usually had power or precision but not both. To reach a Successful experiment, the Teiko scientists started creating the Green Sevens in batches of five, with the idea that the last one standing would be the strongest one for that Generation.”

The humans in the room have matched expressions of horror. Takao can’t even begin to process his thoughts.

“Wait, you’re going to have to back _way_ up,” Kagami says. “Green Sevens? Generations? What does any of that mean?”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Aomine bristles.

Kuroko looks up, ready to jump to Kagami’s defense, but it’s Kise who speaks first. “No, Aominecchi. This concerns all of them too. They need to understand what’s happening.” He sounds tired, and he smiles a weak grin, but his heart isn’t in his usual charm. “Each Project was split into a Group, and each Group was organized by a color and a number and focused on developing a different ability until a Success was created. Yellow Sixes for Perfect Copy, Green Sevens for Telekinesis, Black Fours for Invisibility, and so on. But the individual experiments were all categorized by Generation, one color per Generation. Everyone at this table was all part of the same Generation—Generation ‘Miracle.’ My designation was GM-Y626—the twenty-sixth experiment in the Yellow Six Group for Generation Miracle. Midorimacchi is GM-G7283. The two hundred and eighty third Green Seven. As you can tell, there were waaaay more Green Sevens than Yellow Sixes.”

“There were other Groups in our Generation,” Kuroko says quietly. “Generation Miracle was the first Generation to have a wide majority of Successful projects, but there were others who failed.”

“What happened to them?” Kagami asks.

“Dead,” Aomine says bluntly. “White died—her body gave out. Orange was scrapped, Brown died in an accident—there were a lot of ways you could die, in Teiko.”

“But—you said there were other Generations, right?” Takao says. “What happened to everyone?”

The table falls silent. Kuroko speaks first. “After we escaped, Teiko knew it was only a matter of time before they were shut down by the authorities. Their main goal was to eradicate all evidence of their wrongdoing.”

“But that—” Takao stops, as the full impact hits him.

“It is one of the sins we must bear,” Kuroko says quietly.

Aomine snorts. “One of the many.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Kasamatsu says.

Kise shakes his head. “No, Senpai. Even you can’t absolve us of this. We might not have held the knife, but we chose ourselves knowing the others would be the ones to pay. That’s just something we’ll have to live with as a price for our freedom.”

“So what’s the big problem if Midorima’s twin escaped too?” Kagami asks.

“The problem is he’s _psychotic,_ ” Midorima says fiercely.

“Midorimacchi was always kind of a weird outlier,” Kise explains. “Because all the other Green Sevens were complete psychopaths. The only thing worse were the Red Zeroes. Uh, no offense, Akashicchi.”

“None taken,” Akashi says mildly. “The Red Zeroes were purposefully created to be ruthless, with underdeveloped capabilities for empathy. The Green Sevens were just insane.”

The humans in the room all consider how bad someone has to be for Akashi to call them insane.

“If there’s a Green Seven on the loose, it’s bad news,” Aomine says.

“It is worse than that,” Kuroko says.

Midorima and Takao look at Kuroko in surprise, wondering what he has to add. But Kuroko is looking at Kise.

“Kise-kun also has something to tell us,” Kuroko says.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Kurokocchi,” Kise whines.

Kuroko raises a brow. “No? There’s nothing you want to say about _Haizaki?”_

Kise blanches, and Himuro stiffens. “How did you—?” Kise starts.

“Kagami-kun told me,” Kuroko says.

Kise scowls.

“Kise?” Akashi questions.

Kise looks incredibly reluctant to talk, like he’s still debating if he can get out of explaining. Then he sighs. “Gray’s still around too.”

“What?” the Miracles exclaim.

“You didn’t _tell us this?_ ” Midorima demands.

“I was going to take care of it!” Kise says.

“Gray 1187 isn’t just your problem,” Kuroko says coolly. Takao has never seen Kuroko look so cold and fierce.

Kise’s shoulders droop. “I’m sorry, Kurokocchi. You’re right. I just didn’t think it would matter. Gray’s going to target me, so I figured the rest of you would be safe.”

“He already attacked Himuro-san, proving that he’s _not_ just targeting you,” Kuroko points out.

“What?” Murasakibara snarls. “Gray? Gray’s the one who hit Murochin? Murochin, why didn’t you tell me?”

“You said you didn’t know him,” Himuro protests.

“You called him Haizaki,” Murasakibara complains.

“So… this is also bad,” Takao says.

“The Gray Elevens were just as crazy as the Green Sevens,” Aomine says. “They were sadists. They didn’t kill as much, though. Kise, you should have told us.”

“I was going to take care of it,” Kise says again, his expression darkening.

Takao gets the feeling he knows exactly how Kise was planning on “taking care” of this threat, and it makes him deeply nervous to be sitting at this table. “What could he do?” he asks.

“Bodysnatching,” Kagami responds. “Kuroko told me.”

“Body—” Kasamatsu gets to his feet suddenly and whirls on Kise. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Kise grimaces. “Senpai…”

“Did that guy take over my body?” Kasamatsu demands.

Takao’s jaw drops and the other Miracles are suddenly very invested in looking anywhere but Kise.

“And you didn’t _tell_ me?” Kasamatsu yells.

“I didn’t want to worry you!” Kise says. “I swear, I was going to handle this! I would have _never_ let him hurt you—or anyone else!”

Kasamatsu has a thunderous look on his face and Takao vows never to get on that guy’s bad side. Kise’s going to be in the dog house for a _long time_ by the looks of it.

“Your anger is justified, Kasamatsu-san,” Akashi says in a deceptively pleasant voice. “And I assure you, Kise _will_ be punished for his oversight. But right now, we need to concentrate on the problem at hand. I cannot believe it is a coincidence that both Gray and 7284 have appeared before us now. I am also having a hard time believing that both of them could be alive without someone at this table knowing.”

Takao has no idea what he’s talking about, but one by one, the Miracles all turn towards Momoi.

“Satsuki?” Aomine says.

The only girl at the table looks like she desperately wishes she could hide behind someone. “I didn’t—think they’d come back to Japan.”

“Momoi,” Midorima says in a near growl, that murderous edge returning. “You _knew_ 7284 was still alive?”

“And _Gray_?” Kise demands. “You knew Gray was still alive?”

“I didn’t think it was important—”

“ _Not_ important?” Kise exclaims.

“I think Momoi-san better explain what she knows,” Kuroko says. “Now.”

Momoi shrinks. She looks hurt that even Kuroko is angry. “I only know what Teiko had in their files. The scientists didn’t want to destroy Successful Projects—and Gray was a Success, even if he was deemed obsolete. And 7284 was close, even if he wasn’t as good as Midorin. But they didn’t want them in Japan, so they sold them to an American corporation. I figured it didn’t matter if they were alive! They were still locked up—I didn’t think they’d come _back._ ”

“America?” Kagami repeats.

“And who else was sold to America?” Akashi says. “Projects we thought were dead?”

Momoi casts around for an ally but sees nothing but hostile faces. She slumps back into her seat. “A Gold and a Silver.”

“Jesus fuck,” Aomine says, covering his head with his hands.

“Just what we need,” Kise says. “What next, a Rainbow?”

“Eeh. No way. I don’t want to see a Rainbow ever again,” Murasakibara says.

“If there is a Gold and a Silver running around in Japan, I must admit, I would feel better if there was still a Rainbow Thirteen,” Kuroko says.

“I have to ask—were there actually people with rainbow colored hair?” Takao says.

“Actually, no,” Midorima says. “The Rainbows were weirdly the only Group that had normal colored hair and eyes. Black Fours all came out looking like Kuroko, and even Brown Twelves had magenta hair.”

“And what could Rainbows do?” Takao asks.

Midorima shivers—he’s not alone. The other Miracles all look like they’re suppressing bad memories. “The Rainbow Thirteens were Teiko’s… insurance. They could nullify our powers. Kuroko is right. One might come in handy now, but the risk is too great.”

“Rainbow,” Himuro muses. “So… if one escaped, he would probably have ‘Niji’ in his name, right?”

“Probably, why do you ask?” Midorima says.

“Just wondering,” Himuro says. “What could Golds and Silvers do?”

“There’s no reason to think _they’re_ in Japan too,” Momoi protests.

“No,” Kuroko interjects. “It would explain a lot. The man who shot me… at the time, I thought he seemed Mesmerized.”

“What?” Aomine exclaims.

“See! I wasn’t the only one hiding things!” Kise crows.

“ _I_ did not actually think it was possible, so I dismissed the idea. I thought all the Golds were dead,” says Kuroko.

“If the Gold is in Japan, so is the Silver. They were always a package deal,” Aomine says.

“This is… very bad,” Akashi says.

Takao is suddenly very scared. If _Akashi_ is worried about something, it must be _really_ bad. “And Gold and Silver could…” he prompts.

No one seems to want to answer. Kuroko finally speaks up. “The Silver Eights were designed to be combinations—to see if more than one ability could be induced into one subject. Momoi-san, do you know which Generation they were in?”

“Jabberwocky,” Momoi says, sounding resigned, “Three Generations ahead of ours.”

“Then it is GJ-S888. He had a combination of Murasakibara-kun’s strength, Aomine-kun’s speed, and Orange’s levitation.”

“Orange could fly?” Kagami exclaims.

“No,” Kuroko shakes his head and looks sad. “Teiko’s goal was to produce someone who could fly—soar in the sky like Aomine-kun can speed through the ground. But Orange could only jump very high and float in the air for a few seconds. That is why he was deemed a failure. They thought the ability would still be worth combining with Silver’s other skills.” Kuroko sounds bitter when he says this.

“Gold’s power is the one we need to worry about,” Akashi says. “The Gold Ones had mental abilities. They were telepathic—mind-readers, and they could Mesmerize someone—cause a kind of temporary insanity that enabled a kind of mind control.”

“Like you?” Takao asks.

“No,” Akashi says coolly. “Absolute Order is a scalpel. Mesmerism is a blunt hammer. Golds also possessed premonition.”

“So… like you,” Kagami says.

Akashi nods his head once. “I was gifted with a few Gold abilities.” His voice clearly says the next person who asks a question will be executed. No one else asks a question.

“If Gold and Silver Jabberwocky, Gray and 7284 are in Japan, we are in serious trouble,” Midorima says. “All of Japan is in trouble.”

“Come on, you’re exaggerating,” Takao says.

Midorima gives him a look. “No. I am not.”

Takao glances around the table. He can’t believe this is happening—this is manga levels of ridiculous. Next, someone was going to suggest they should all wear costumes…

“We need to tell the authorities,” Kasamatsu says. “The JSDF needs to know if the country is in danger.”

“Senpai,” Kise starts.

“They will come after us first,” Midorima says over him. “Specifically, they will target you.”

“Me?” Kasamatsu says.

“All of the humans here,” Midorima corrects.

“What?” Takao says in alarm.

“They’re already started,” Kise says. “They’ll want to hurt us, make us angry. That’s probably why Gold targeted Kurokocchi first. He knew Kurokocchi is our weak point.”

“We’ll have to find them first,” Aomine says. “Take ‘em out before they can cause trouble.”

“We need to call the police,” Takao says. He keeps thinking back to the fact that there has been a serial killer running around Tokyo lately. And it can’t be, right? There’s no way, right? The Projects aren’t really _killing_ people, right?

Aomine gives him a withering look. “Do you really think the human military has a chance of taking on a Miracle?”

Kasamatsu scowls. “Even you aren’t invulnerable.”

“Senpai, there would be casualties,” Kise says quietly. “Even if the JSDF could stop one of them, there would be a _lot_ of people caught in the crossfire. Our best bet is to take them out quietly. So no one else gets hurt.”

“You’re talking about murder,” Kasamatsu says bluntly.

Takao lets out a low whistle. Because they’d all been _thinking_ it, but leave it to Kasamatsu to put it right out there in the open.

“Self-defense,” Kise says quietly.

“This is great and all. But _how_ exactly are you planning on stopping these guys?” Takao asks. “Assuming they’re as dangerous as you say, how are you even going to find them?”

“They’ll find us. And when the do, I will stop 7284,” Midorima replies.

“I’ll stop Gray,” Kise says. “It’s Gold and Silver you have to worry about.”

“You don’t know they’ll come after us,” Momoi protests. “They don’t have personal grudges like Gray and 7284 do.”

“They will,” Akashi says. He doesn’t elaborate. “Murasakibara and Aomine will have to work together to stop Silver. Momoi, any information you can get us…”

“I will,” Momoi says. “If they’ve left any kind of electronic trace, I’ll find them.”

“The problem is Gold,” Akashi says. “I am the only one who has a chance at stopping him. However, we should formulate a plan while we’re all together.”

Takao suppresses a sigh. It’s going to be a _long_ night.

*

After a few hours the meeting starts to fall apart. Momoi ducks out early to get started right away and Aomine goes with her. Akashi needs to make arrangements for a stay in Tokyo and Kasamatsu has clearly suppressed his rage at Kise for too long and he drags the yellow haired Miracle away for some well-deserved venting.

Takao is tired, and he just wants to go home. But Midorima stops him.

“Stay over at my house tonight,” he commands.

“What?” Takao says, thinking his exhaustion has caused him to hallucinate.

“Please,” Midorima adds. “It would make me feel better.”

“I don’t think I’m really in any danger,” Takao says. “Not in my own home.”

Midorima doesn’t say anything, but he has a stubborn look on his face, like if Takao doesn’t agree he might kidnap him anyway.

“Fine,” Takao relents. “Let me call my mom.”

*

Takao had been in Midorima’s room a couple of times for studying purposes, but it took on a whole new context now that he was _sleeping over._

His room should have a felt cluttered, due to the sheer amount and randomness of past lucky items, but it didn’t. Largely because Midorima kept things very organized and clean—everything was in its proper place and there was never a speck of dust.

The Kishitani family took Takao’s presence in stride, with only mild complaints on Naoko’s part that if Kazu-nii was staying over, Ayumi-chan should too, but no one suspected anything was wrong. Takao felt they should have—Midorima was terse and tense all evening, but maybe that wasn’t too strange. Takao tried to make up for it with joking cheer, but it started to sounds forced, even to him.

 When the evening hit, Takao lay on the spare mat on Midorima’s floor and he stares up at the ceiling. “Hey, Shin-chan—do you really think all of this is necessary?”

“You haven’t told me everything,” Midorima says in response. “I know he must have done something more.”

Takao grimaces. He just didn’t want Midorima to freak out more than he already has, but considering he wasn’t letting Takao out of his sight, it probably couldn’t get much worse.

“He knew my name,” Takao admits. He hadn’t let himself think too much about that creepy detail. “Do you think my mom and sister are in danger?”

“No,” Midorima responds, and there’s a thick layer of anger. “Kishitani-sensei and Naoko and you, yes. Did he do or say anything else?”

Takao hesitates.

“ _Takao._ ”

“I’ll make you a deal, Shin-chan. You answer one of my questions in full, and I’ll answer yours.”

Midorima adjusts his glasses. “Alright.”

“Why are you so scared of this guy? What did he do?”

Midorima makes a disgruntled face, so Takao presses, “Shouldn’t I know what this guy is capable of?”

Takao can see the exact moment Midorima gives in. Midorima sighs, and he doesn’t look at Takao when he starts talking. “As they said, the Green Sevens had a tendency towards psychopathy and sadism. I imagine this was a pre-existing condition linked to our abilities, but it was encouraged by how we were raised. The scientists made it very clear that only the strongest would be allowed to live in our batch of five. In my batch, there were only three contenders. I had all the power and 7284 had all the precision. 7282 had both, but 7284 slit his throat one night when we were sleeping. When I started developing precision, he threw an acid compound into my eyes. The scientists were able to reconstruct my eyes, but my vision was never the same. He did worse things, but I hope this at least gives you the idea of what kind of person we are dealing with.”

Takao swallows, his throat suddenly very dry. He can’t believe how quickly his life has changed. That going out one night can lead to _this._ It still doesn’t feel real.

But this is Midorima’s _life._ This is what made him who he is, and Takao is only just now getting a glimpse of that.

“It’s your turn,” Midorima says.

Takao grimaces. Now more than ever, he feels like he should lie. But a deal’s a deal. “He kissed me. I didn’t kiss back! But he was—whoa.”

Every item in the room rattles like it’s an earthquake. Takao jolts up from the mat and sees Midorima glowing green.     

Midorima stops glowing and everything settles down. He’s gripping his fists so tightly his knuckles are white. “Sorry,” he mutters.

“He didn’t threaten me exactly,” Takao says quietly, wondering if there’s a right thing to say that would calm Midorima.

“His approaching you was the threat,” Midorima says.

Takao wishes there was some way he could undo this. Maybe if he hadn’t gone out last night—

But he had known Takao’s name. He must have been watching him for awhile—that was a creepy thought. Maybe this was inevitable.

“I’m going to try and sleep now,” Takao announces. “Good night, Shin-chan.”

Takao closes his eyes and rolls over. A few heartbeats later he hears a quiet, “Good night, Takao.”

*

Takao has never been a particularly sound sleeper, and the feeling that a deranged psychopath who either wants to fuck him or kill him is out there does not promote the most restful of sleep.

So when Midorima gets up at four in the morning, Takao hears it. He pretends he’s still sleeping when he hears Kise’s voice.

“Got what you wanted, Midorimacchi. Oh, Takao-kun’s over,” Kise’s voice was a whisper to begin with, but he drops it even lower after he notices Takao. “That’s probably for the best.”

“Did you have any trouble getting it?” Midorima asks.

“Pff. I’m a shape-changer living with a military man. I probably could have got you the whole thing—”

“It’s unnecessary.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Thank you. I am surprised you brought these yourself. I didn’t think you would leave Kasamatsu-san.”

“Senpai is really, really mad at me. He told me to leave for a bit—I don’t think Gray’s going to strike at night, anyhow. It’s not his style.” Kise lets out a sigh. “God, this is so messed up. If something happens to Senpai because of me—Midorimacchi, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I know,” Midorima says.

“He threatened him. He was in his body and he—”

Kise sounds sick. Takao’s glad he’s pretending he’s asleep. Kise sounds like he’s wanted to share this with someone for awhile and Takao gets the feeling he wouldn’t like it if he knew Takao could hear him.

“I wish I hadn’t been so obvious—you know? I can’t stand the fact that Senpai’s a target just because I couldn’t hide the fact that I love him. And he doesn’t like me back. He’s a target for something he has no control over, and he’s not even complicit with it.”

“How can you stand it?” Midorima asks. “How can you love someone unrequitedly for three years and not go mad?”

Kise lets out a soft chuckle. “Who says I haven’t gone mad?”

“Why haven’t you told him yet?”

“He doesn’t like me. I haven’t been subtle, Midorimacchi, you know that. If he had even the slightest attraction to me, he wouldn’t be so oblivious to how I feel.”

“Yes. I suppose I know what you mean. It was rather demeaning how they all thought we were in love with Kuroko.”

“Seriously. But as long as I don’t tell him, I can still hope, you know? Anyway, it’s not like it matters. As long as I’m in his life, I’ll be happy. I just need to keep him safe.”

“Someday he’ll be someone else’s. He’ll fall in love and then you won’t ever be in his life anymore. What are you going to do then?”

“What are _you_ going to do? When it happens to you?” Kise says.

“Nothing. There’s nothing I can do but watch it happen.”

Kise sighs. “You were always the best one of us. Are you really sure you want to go down this road?”

“What do you mean?”

Kise rattles something. “ _This._ We swore we wouldn’t do this anymore. And you _were_ different, you can’t deny that. You never liked doing it. You were almost as moral as Kurokocchi.”

“No one was as moral as Kuroko. You forget that my count is higher than yours, Kise.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I am a monster, the same as you. Like all of us. I will do what needs to be done—what should have been done a long time ago.”

“Just be careful, OK?”

“Same to you.”

Takao hears Kise leave. He has no idea what to make of that conversation. It sounds like Midorima’s in love with someone, which just seems insane. A thought occurs, but surely not. It’s too impossible.

*

When Takao gets up an hour later, Midorima is sitting at his desk, holding a box.

He sees it before Midorima can hide it.

“Bullets?” he blurts out.

Even though Kasamatsu said it last night, it didn’t fully connect in Takao’s mind. Kise is planning on killing Gray. And Midorima—Midorima plans on killing his twin.

_We swore we wouldn’t do this anymore._

They’ve done it before. Takao’s not sure under what context, but he feels it with absolute certainty: the Miracles have all killed before.

_My count is higher than yours._

_I am a monster, same as you._

“Shin-chan, you’re really going to—.” He stops when he sees the look on Midorima’s face.

Yes. He’s going to do this. He’s done it before. Takao knows there’s absolutely nothing he can say or do to stop him.

Takao still has a hard time accepting _this_ is reality. He knows he has exactly two options: he could run from this—disengage himself from Midorima’s life entirely and hope this means he’ll no longer be a target, or accept Midorima for who he is and support him.

It would probably be safer if he stopped being Midorima’s friend.

But he turned away from Midorima once already.

He’s not going to do that again.

“Don’t you need a gun?” Takao asks.

Midorima adjusts his glasses.

“I am the gun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I gave Midorima an evil twin. (Please don't hate me) Remember how I saw this was loosely based on Dark Angel? I swear, this was something that happened in the show all the time. Like, *all* the time.


	8. Chapter 8

Kasamatsu has never been so furious with Kise.

It’s not just that someone had taken over his body without his knowing and Kise didn’t _tell_ him. It’s not even the fact that clearly, Kasamatsu’s life has been in danger for the past couple of weeks and Kise didn’t tell him.

It’s the fact that Kise just simply says, “I’m going to handle it” like it’s a done deal that murder is the only solution.

He kicks Kise out of their room the first night because he’s so mad he can’t trust himself not to say something terrible. Kise comes back the next morning, looking pale and like he’d stayed up all night. Kasamatsu’s little brothers can clearly tell something is wrong, but they don’t ask questions. He sends them off to school and then turns to Kise.

“Not us. We’re skipping today.”

“Senpai, you’re on the Disciplinary Committee!” Kise says, shocked.

Kasamatsu gives him a flat look. “You and I need to talk.”

Kise grimaces. “Yeah. I guess we do.”

*

They can’t go out during the day, in case someone catches them for truancy. So Kasamatsu makes a pot of tea and they sit at the kitchen table.

“Senpai, I just want to—”

“Can it,” Kasamatsu interrupts. “First of all, are Mizuki and Ren in danger?”

Kise blanches. He looks down at his cup of tea. “Yes.”

Kasamatsu clenches his fists. “You should have told me.”

Kise opens his mouth but shuts it immediately. Then he nods his head. “Yeah, you’re right. I _am_ sorry. I just—”

“You were going to handle it,” Kasamatsu says flatly. “And that’s something else we need to talk about. You’re planning to murder someone.”

“He needs to die,” Kise says, his eyes growing distant, cold. “You don’t know Gray like I do. Him and 7284—these aren’t normal people. There’s only one way you deal with people like that.”

“You can’t be serious!” Kasamatsu yells. “You don’t get to play judge, jury and executioner. If these guys are as bad as you say, then you stop them and lock them up.”

“There’s not a prison that could hold them! Senpai, this isn’t something you can handle with normal means. This is why I didn’t tell you! You don’t understand—”

“I understand,” Kasamatsu says. “If I didn’t, I would have told my father by now.”

He thought about it last night—he didn’t get any sleep either—he thought about too many things.

He’s seen what the Miracles can do. It occurs to him—just like it must have occurred to the JSDF soldiers—that if the Miracles had wanted to destroy them, they could have. If the children decide to live violent lives, if they use their abilities for selfish or evil deeds, then there’s nothing that could stop them. Not without severe civilian loss. They’d be like gods.

It must be why the JSDF has always made such an effort to try and normalize the Miracles. Why they gave them the chance to go to normal high schools, why they let them play basketball. They want the Miracles to be normal children, because if they choose a different path, there won’t be anything that can stop them.

Kasamatsu knows they don’t have much of a chance to stop Haizaki or the Midorima doppelganger the normal way.

But he can’t let Kise stop them his way either.

“Senpai, I have to do this. If he hurts you—or your dad or your brothers—I couldn’t live with myself. So, I don’t care if you hate me. If you throw me out, never want to see me again—that’s fine. Just so long as you’re OK.”

There is an impenetrable barrier around Kise—a wall Kasamatsu has no chance of breaking through. Kise has a hard, determined look in his eyes. Kasamatsu has seen this look before, on the basketball court. It’s a self-destructive look—Kise genuinely doesn’t care what happens to him.

_To think, I used to scold him for his selfishness,_ Kasamatsu thinks bitterly. Kise is ready to land on a grenade and the only thing Kasamatsu can do is watch him fall.

_Never,_ he vows. There is another way out of this. He hasn’t figured it out yet, but he will.

*

The conversation isn’t over yet—there’s a million other things Kasamatsu wants to say. But Kise gets a text from Aomine that just says, “Turn on your television,” so they stop arguing in order to comply.

The News section of the day is discussing the assassination of a British ambassador that took place four years ago. They’re talking about “new and disturbing evidence” coming to light that might exonerate the man they had originally imprisoned for the crime—the ambassador’s secretary.

Kasamatsu frowns, wondering why Aomine would have them watch this now.

Then he sees Kise’s face—pale and horrified, and his stomach turns as an unpleasant suspicion sinks in. “Don’t tell me—”

“I have to go,” Kise says.

“ _Kise._ ”

Kise glows yellow and turns into an unassuming business man—no one people would suspect walking around during school hours. “Stay here, Kasamatsu-senpai. Don’t open the doors for _anyone._ ” Kise storms off.

_Right,_ Kasamatsu thinks. _Like I’m going to obey that._

*

Kasamatsu can actually pass for a college student when he’s in plain clothes, so he adopts a confident air of someone who definitely isn’t skipping school and takes a train into Tokyo.

The first thing he needs, Kasamatsu decides, is allies. If he can’t get the JSDF involved, then his pool of allies is limited, but he knows where he should start looking.

He sends out a few texts, and by the time he arrives in Tokyo, school is done for the day. He meets them at Maji Burger—not the place he would have chosen for a covert meeting, but it wasn’t his pick.

“I like their milkshakes,” Kuroko says, by way of explanation when he approaches Kasamatsu for the assigned meeting. “And the other Miracles are unlikely to come here. Only Kagami-kun might, but he is at practice right now.”

“Why did you want to meet us, Kasa-senpai?” Momoi asks. She has a laptop out and is typing furiously at it, barely looking up. Kasamatsu has never seen the girl look so disheveled—she looks like she hasn’t slept at all since she left the Denny’s.

“Because I think Kise is going to do something stupid, and I want to stop him,” Kasamatsu says bluntly, getting straight to the point.

Kuroko and Momoi exchange glances.

“Also, I get the feeling there’s a lot more to this that no one’s talking about,” Kasamatsu continues. “And I was hoping I would have better luck with you two.”

Momoi sighs. “If you want help stopping the Miracles, we’re the absolute wrong people to turn to for help.”

“We tried to stop them for years and they never listened to us,” Kuroko says, in that mild way of his.

“Even after we left Teiko, they weren’t interested in what we had to say,” Momoi protests. “Even when it was just trying to get them to be nice to humans. They’re impossible.”

“But they respect you,” Kasamatsu says to Kuroko.

“They feel indebted to me,” Kuroko corrects. “And they admire my resolve. But they do not respect my opinions. They never have.”

“So you’re just going to give up?” Kasamatsu yells.

“Kasamatsu-senpai,” Kuroko says delicately, “There are things about Teiko that you do not know—”

“I know,” Kasamatsu interrupts. They both look at him blankly and he sighs. “I _know,_ OK? Jesus Christ, how long do you think I’ve known you guys? Have you forgotten who my Dad is? I’m not an idiot.”

“Then you should know why it’s not a problem—what Kise is trying to do,” Kuroko says.

“That’s why it _is_ a problem!” Kasamatsu shouts. As everyone in the Maji Burger looks at him, he grimaces and lowers his voice. “If he does this, I don’t think there’s coming back from it. He’s made a lot of progress this past year—all the Miracles have. If they go down this road—” he stops, struggling with what he’s trying to say, “—then it would be like he never escaped Teiko.”

Kuroko lowers his gaze. Momoi looks at her computer screen.

“Please,” Kasamatsu says, getting desperate, “Please help me save him. All of them.”

Momoi bites her lip. “It’s a lot more worse than we thought.” She turns her computer screen to Kasamatsu. There’s a video clip, and Momoi hits play.

It’s an American talk show, with the interview and a young man wearing a suit. The American boy has a powerful presence about him—suggesting a lot of wealth and a privileged upbringing.

“The thing we have to ask ourselves is not whether these creatures are human, but whether or not they are _safe._ They were created in a lab—but why? My father is a businessman, and I can tell you that no one makes a product they don’t plan to use. So the question we should be asking ourselves is—why did Teiko make them? And how do we know this isn’t all part of their plan?”

Kasamatsu only has average grades when it comes to English, but he gets the gist of it. He reads the name on the screen, Nash Gold Jr. and jerks, “Don’t tell me—”

“It’s Gold. GJ-G176,” Momoi says, turning the screen back towards her.

“He’s not even hiding his name,” Kasamatsu cries.

“We did not,” Kuroko points out.

“Yeah, but—” his mind whirls. “The things he’s saying—it’s clear he’s pretending to be human, yeah?”

Momoi nods her head. “I was so dumb. There’s been increased anti-Miracle sentiment on the internet lately. I’ve been shutting it down but I didn’t think it through. I’ve been so _stupid._ I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection sooner.”

Kasamatsu’s brows furrow. “By shutting it down, you mean—?”

“I’ve been erasing it,” Momoi explains. “There’s nothing that happens on the Internet that I don’t allow. But videos like this—I can’t hack television. The anti-Miracles sentiment can spread, even if I keep it off the forums.”

 Momoi’s ability is called “Data Analysis.” Kasamatsu knows it was designed to process patterns and intense amount of information in order to make predictions. Kise once said Momoi could also talk to computers, which Kasamatsu figured he was being figurative. But it is clear that Momoi’s skill run beyond the normal hackers abilities when it comes to technology.

“You think Gold is doing this on purpose? Deliberately stirring up antagonism towards Miracles? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know,” Momoi says. “But if Gray and 7284 plan on getting their revenge by destroying our lives, I think Gold’s revenge is to destroy any chance we might have at being normal.”

“Why do they hate you so much?”

“Because we escaped,” Momoi says. “And they didn’t.”

Kuroko looks down. “It is more than just that, I think. For Gray and 7284, anyway. Everyone at Teiko knew that if you were not a Success, you would be scrapped. It would have been hard not to resent those deemed Successful. And for Gold and Silver, who were sold to another company, it would be hard to see the others renounce Teiko’s way of life and live amongst humans.”

“The Golds and Silvers were always different than the rest of us,” Momoi says. “Better. They thought themselves superior to all the other colors. I think they would hate the fact that Successful Projects would choose to lower themselves and associate with humans. They would see it as… demeaning.”

Great. People _worse_ than the Miracles in terms of superiority complexes.

“Gray and 7284 will try to kill you,” Momoi says, “But Gold and Silver have a much more effective revenge pan.”

“All the more reason why we can’t fight them the normal way,” Kasamatsu says. “We have to stop Kise. And Midorima.”

“As we explained, Kasamatsu-senpai, Kise-kun and the others have never listened to _us,_ ” Kuroko says quietly. “I believe the only one who has any chance of stopping Kise-kun is you.”

But I can’t! Kasamatsu wants to shout. I tried!

He wants to throttle them for their uncooperativeness. But it’s unfair of him. As amazing as Kuroko and Momoi are, they’re still just First Years. He shouldn’t be turning to them to solve his problems.

“I wish I could do more,” Momoi says. “It’s all my fault. I should have seen this coming—“

“You can’t know everything, Momoi-san,” Kuroko says.

Momoi’s shoulders slump. “But you blame me for not telling everyone they were alive.”

“Why didn’t you?” Kasamatsu asks, curiously.

“They were locked away, in America. I didn’t think they were a threat. And—I wanted them to stay that way. Locked up,” she says this like she’s confessing something horrible. And maybe Kasamatsu understands her guilt—she wanted to be free, but she didn’t think others should have the same freedom.

Momoi lets out a long sigh. “All of this is my fault,” she says again.

“No, Momoi-san. I share the blame as well,” says Kuroko.

“But you don’t, Tetsu-kun. Not really.”

“What are you talking about?” Kasamatsu asks. He sense they’re not talking about hiding information anymore.

Momoi has a distraught expression, like she’s been carrying a heavy burden for so long she doesn’t know what to do with it anymore. “At Denny’s, Kichan said it was our burden to bear—the fact that we ran away, and the others were killed because of it. But it wasn’t their fault, not really. It was mine. Tetsu-kun was going to leave by himself. If it had just been Tetsu-kun, Teiko would have never been discovered.”

Momoi’s eyes tear up. She closes her eyes, and two drops escape, but she doesn’t wipe her face. “I yelled at them, I blamed them for leaving Tetsu-kun behind. But Midorin was right—I have no right to blame them for anything, I don’t know what it was like. The Pink Twos and the White Tens were the only group that was predominately designed to be female, and the Pink Twos were deemed Successes early on. I didn’t have to fear for my life the same way as the boys did—and I didn’t have to dirty my hands.”

Kasamatsu doesn’t understand why she’s telling him this. He thinks, perhaps, it’s like when they were all in the hospital lobby, and the Miracles felt the need to confess their sins. Probably Momoi hasn’t had anyone to confide in, and she needs this just as much as the boys did.

“I could hack anything, even Teiko’s computers. So I knew as soon as they decided it, what they had planned for me. They wanted to breed me as soon as I was old enough. I was going to usher in the next wave of experiments—natural born Projects between super-powered parents. They had pregnancies planned out for the next ten years of my life. And—it’s pathetic, you know? The boys suffered so, so much worse. But I couldn’t handle it. I begged Tetsu-kun to help me escape. And he did. He saved me.”

“Momoi, that is seriously fucked up,” Kasamatsu says, “ _No one_ should ever have to go through that. You can’t blame yourself for wanting to escape. It’s not pathetic at all.”

Momoi smiles weakly at him. “Thank you, Kasa-senpai. It’s just—I begged Tetsu-kun to save the others, too. So really, it’s my fault all the other Projects were killed. If the others hadn’t escaped with us—that’s a sin _I_ have to bear. Not the others, and not Tetsu-kun.”

Kasamatsu leans back.

He remembers the night his father came home and held his sons, sobbing into their shoulders. He’d held onto Kasamatsu so tightly, like he thought his sons might disappear at any moment.

Later, he’d asked his father what happened. And later, Kasamatsu Youji told his eldest son everything. How the soldiers had stormed Teiko, only to find the burnt out shell of a building, and the remains of dozens of children, some no older than toddlers. It had been the JSDF’s job to clear out the remains. Youji had never seen so many dead children. “It’s our fault,” he had said. “The knowledge that if we’d come sooner—if only we’d gone to Teiko as soon as we met the Miracles, we might have saved them, saved them all—that’s something that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. It’s something that haunts us all.”

So Kasamatsu tells Momoi the same thing he told his father, “The only ones to blame are the Teiko scientists. They were monsters, and you can’t hate yourself for something they did.”

Momoi rubs her face as more tears come. She sniffles loudly and Kuroko hands her a handkerchief.

“I’m glad,” Kasamatsu says. He does nothing to stop her tears because he’s absolutely useless talking to girls on a normal day—he has zero clue what to do when one cries. “I’m glad you saved the others. If that meant I have to share some of the blame in what happened to the others, then so be it. But I can’t be sorry for a second that you saved Kise. I’m sure Takao and Himuro feel the same way.”

“I don’t regret it,” Momoi says, muffled into her hands. “I don’t regret it at all. If I had to go back and do it all over, I would’ve still begged Tetsu-kun to save everyone. And everyone—everyone is just starting to be _happy_. They’re beginning to find peace for the first time. I don’t want them to go back to who they were either, but I don’t know how to stop them, I never did. I’m sorry, Kasa-senpai. But please, _please_ stop Kichan. You’re the only one who can.”

*

Kasamatsu leaves the meeting feeling more frustrated then when it began.

“I am sorry we cannot help you, Kasamatsu-san,” Kuroko had said, after Momoi left. “But the fact is, I purposefully left the JSDF base because I had given up on ever trying to get the others to listen to me. I went to Seirin and joined the basketball club because I wanted to live my own life, for once. If there was something I could do to help them, I will gladly do it. But I do not know what that would be.”

And Kasamatsu finally realized then just what a futile attempt it had been, to reach out to Kuroko and Momoi. He knows just how much the others tend to obsess over Kuroko—they love him and hate him. Kise has lost to him twice now and seems to accept that he will only ever lose against Kuroko. Kasamatsu doesn’t understand it, but they all feel both superior and inferior to the quietest Miracle. Kasamatsu thought he could use that to his advantage, but he understands now that Kuroko doesn’t have any authority over the others. Probably the only one who does is Akashi, and _that_ guy isn’t going to help Kasamatsu.

“Do _you_ regret saving the others?” Kasamatsu had asked. “Do you wish sometimes you’d just saved yourself?”

He wouldn’t blame Kuroko at all if he did wish for that every now and then.

But Kuroko shook his head. “Never once have I regretted including the others in my escape plan. I only wish I could have saved everyone.”

He’s a good kid, Kuroko. And Kasamatsu figures the Miracles are right about one thing: Kuroko has the strongest resolve out of anyone Kasamatsu has ever met. He doesn’t believe that makes Kuroko better than the Miracles who couldn’t defy Teiko the same way, but he does understand why they are in awe of him.

So he regrets asking Kuroko for help, because Kuroko has given too much already. If Kasamatsu has any chance of fixing this, it won’t be with the help of other Miracles.

Which leaves only three other people who might be willing to help out.

Kasamatsu calls them next.

*

“Where did we first meet?” Takao asks in greeting.

“In an okonomiyaki restaurant. After the Seirin vs. Shutoku game. You dumped food on Midorima’s head,” Kasamatsu says.

“Just checking,” Takao says.

“I called you here.”

“Yeah, but you still could have been Haizaki, right? Aren’t you going to check me?”

“Midorima’s right over there,” Kasamatsu says. He’d called Takao and told him to come alone, but Midorima came anyway. He’s sitting far enough that there’s no chance he can overhear them, so in his own way, he’s giving them privacy. But Kasamatsu can still see him.

“He’s not leaving me out of his sight. It’s like having a bodyguard! Also, he could totally be 7284 and I could be possessed by Haizaki and _you_ are being really lax with your personal security, Kasamatsu-san! I’m surprised Kise’s letting _you_ out of his sight.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Kasamatsu growls.

Takao shrugs. “Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, what’s up?”

Kasamatsu flicks his eyes over to wear Midorima is standing. It’s awkward with him there, but since he can’t hear them, Kasamatsu just lowers his voice. “You know he’s planning murder, right?”

Takao laughs. Kasamatsu thinks maybe Takao _doesn’t_ get it, but the First Year grins in a lop-sided way and says, “Yeah. That was made pretty clear. Shin-chan already has the method all picked out.”

Kasamatsu gapes at him. “And doesn’t this concern you?!”

Takao just shrugs again. “It’s not really my decision to make, right? So it doesn’t matter if it concerns me or not.”

Kasamatsu wants to strangle him. The only reason why he doesn’t hit Takao right now is because he’s pretty sure Midorima would kill him on the spot if he tried.

“He’s your friend, isn’t he? What do you think doing something like this would do to him? Don’t you want to help him?” Kasamatsu’s hands are shaking. Why doesn’t anyone get it?

“But I don’t think I could stop him,” Takao falters. He lowers his eyes. “And if I try—I don’t think I’d be able to stop him, but that might be the last straw, you know? He might never trust me again. And—I don’t know. I think that would be worse for him. We’d lose him for good, then.”

Kasamatsu leans back. So maybe Takao _does_ get it—even if he’s come to a different conclusion about how to handle it.

“Hey, Kasamatsu-san, can I tell you something embarrassing? Something even Shin-chan doesn’t know?”

Kasamatsu stifles a sigh. “Go ahead.” This is apparently, ‘Confess Your Sins to Yukio Day.’

“I was one of the children who came to the JSDF base. Like you. Only I gave up early on.”

Kasamatsu blinks in surprise. This isn’t what he was expecting. “Midorima doesn’t know?”       

Takao laughs. “I was assigned to his group, can you believe it? But he’s completely forgotten about me.

“But, you know, I regret it now. I wish I’d been more like you.”

“I only kept coming out of a stubborn sense of pride,” Kasamatsu says. “It’s not like I was doing something admirable.”

“But you didn’t give up on them,” Takao presses. “I was miserable, in middle school. And I was so wrapped up in my own misery; I couldn’t see anyone else’s pain. Maybe if I’d just kept going, tried to know him—I can’t help but think we’d _both_ better off today.

“So the thing is—if I can’t accept him _now_ , then it’s like I never learned any better. If I try to stop him—it would be like telling him I can’t face his past, what he’s done, who he is now. And I can’t do that to him.”

It’s frustrating—but there’s nothing Kasamatsu can say to that.

Himuro had said that too, when he called him. “I love Atsushi for who he is. Everything he was, everything he is now, I love him.”

Only Kagami had been sympathetic. “I’d be happy to help, but I don’t know what I could do. If you come up with something, let me know.”

It makes him want to scream.

It’s not about who they were, or who they are. It’s about who they will be, if they do this.

“Hey, Kasamatsu-san. If it’s so important to you, why don’t you just _talk_ to Kise?”

“I tried!” Kasamatsu yells.

“And he didn’t listen?” Takao cocks his head.

“People overestimate my influence over Kise,” Kasamatsu growls.

Takao raises a brow. “Maybe you underestimate your influence over Kise.” He pauses, like he’s debating something. Kasamatsu can see the exact moment Takao comes to some sort of conclusion.

“You know he’s in love with you, right?”

Kasamatsu’s jaw drops. “ _What?”_ he sputters. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Takao laughs. “Oh man, I was wondering if that’s what you were going to say. I really didn’t think it was possible—you really don’t know?”

“Kise’s not in love with me,” Kasamatsu says. The idea is _absurd._

“Yes, he is, ask anyone. The entire world knows Kise’s in love with you. It was one of the first things Shin-chan ever told me—‘Don’t flirt with Kasamatsu Yukio, Kise will kill you.’ And then Kise warned me away himself, so don’t think I’m making this up.”

The sheer impossibility of the situation completely derails Kasamatsu’s thoughts. “You must have misunderstood something.”

Takao shakes his head. “Kasamatsu-san, the only one who has ever misunderstood the situation is you. I will bet you all the money I possess that you can ask anyone, literally _anyone,_ who knows the two of you if they know Kise is in love with you, and they’ll say yes. It would be the safest bet I’ve ever made in my life.”

 Kasamatsu just continues to stare at him. Takao considers him, hawk’s eyes staring right through him. “I overheard Kise talking to Shin-chan last night. They don’t know I was awake. Kise said he knew you didn’t like him back. He said he’d been so obvious about his feelings that the only way you could possibly remain clueless is because you had zero interest in him.

“I wonder, though… I kept thinking, maybe the reason you didn’t realize it is because it just seems impossible to you. Like, maybe it’s not that you don’t reciprocate, it just never would have occurred to you that Kise could want you.”

“I don’t—I mean—” Kasamatsu has no idea where he’s even with that sentence.

Takao continues to measure him with his gaze. It makes Kasamatsu want to squirm in his seat, like he’s in elementary school and he’s just been caught doing something he shouldn’t by the teacher.

“If you really don’t like him back—if you don’t think you ever could, I think the kindest thing you could do is to not involve yourself in what he’s planning,” Takao says. “Just let him do what he needs to do and withdraw from his life.

“But if you _do_ like him back, well. Then I think you need to talk to him, tell him what you feel, why stopping him is so important to you.”

“Whether or not I love him has nothing to do with whether or not I approve of him _murdering_ someone,” Kasamatsu says angrily. “He’s my friend. I wouldn’t want any of my friends killing someone.”

“But he’s not just a friend, is he?” Takao says. “He’s not like other people. Look, all I’m saying is, Kise’s in love with you. That’s a fact. Any decision you make now about how to deal with him has to be with the knowledge that he loves you.”

*

Kise’s not home when Kasamatsu finally returns. He doesn’t come home all evening. He sends texts, so Kasamatsu’s pretty sure he’s OK.

“Are you and Ryouta-nii fighting?” Ren asks after dinner is done.

“No,” Kasamatsu growls.

“Then why isn’t he home?” Mizuki asks.

“It’s complicated,” Kasamatsu says. He feels a little hypocritical, not telling his younger brothers that they could be in danger. But they really are better off not knowing about psychopathic human experiments and sadistic scientists. “It’s grown up stuff.”

“Oh. Because he’s in love with you?” Mizuki asks.

“What?” Kasamatsu yelps, in a completely undignified fashion. “No! I mean, that’s not—what are you even talking about?!”

“When you guys marry, he’ll be Kasamatsu Ryouta,” Ren says helpfully. “And then he’ll be our brother for real!”

“We are not getting married!”

Mizuki snorts. “Tell that to Dad. I think he already has his wedding speech written.”

“Oh Jesus _Christ,_ ” Kasamatsu says, burying his head in his hands.

_Ask anyone,_ Takao had said. _The entire world knows Kise’s in love with you._

*

Kise’s still not home in the morning, and he’s not in school. Kasamatsu’s starting to worry.

_Come home, idiot,_ he sends a text to Kise.

_Soon,_ Kise writes back. He has an excessive amount of emoji, so Kasamatsu’s pretty sure it’s him and not a serial killer.

During lunch, he sits with Moriyama and thinks about what Takao said.

_Ask anyone._

He debates in is his head for three seconds, and then casually asks, “Hey, Moriyama, do you think Kise’s in love with me?”

Moriyama doesn’t look up from his lunch, “Oh, did he finally confess to you?”

“You knew?!” Kasamatsu exclaims, because seriously, this is getting ridiculous.

Moriyama looks up then, looking faintly amused. “Yeah, man. Everyone knows.”

“Everyone does not know!” Kasamatsu protests.

“No, I’m pretty sure everyone does. Oi, Kobori!” Moriyama beckons their fellow Third-Year over. “Who does Kise love?”

“Kasamatsu?” Kobori says, looking confused. “Everyone knows—oh shit, Kasamatsu! I didn’t see you there!”

“See?” Moriyama says triumphantly. “Everyone knows. Kobori, doesn’t everyone know?”

Kobori looks at Kasamatsu curiously, like he’s trying to measure his reaction. “Oh yeah, definitely. Coach once asked us if we thought it was appropriate for you two to be in the locker rooms together.”

“What?!” Kasamatsu exclaims. He’s getting a little tired of saying that. “ _Coach_ knows?”

“Oh yeah. Remember our training camp? Coach didn’t think you two should sleep in the same room, but we told him you already did that,” Moriyama says.

“We did promise not to let Kise molest you in your sleep, though,” Kobori says.

“Oh man. We did! But then Kise pulled his mat next to yours and glared at anyone who tried to set up a mat on the other side of you, and we totally chickened out. Kise could have had his wicked way with you right then and there, and we’d have done nothing to stop it,” Moriyama reminisces.

“I am so glad my virtue was safe under your watch,” Kasamatsu says. He rubs his head. “Fuck. If you all knew he was in love with me, why didn’t anyone _tell_ me?”

Kobori and Moriyama exchange glances.

“It seemed… kinder, not to,” Moriyama says apologetically.

“I mean, you were so oblivious. It was clear you didn’t reciprocate, otherwise you couldn’t have been so oblivious,” Kobori says.

Kasamatsu wishes people would stop saying that.

“And you’re sure you’re not misinterpreting things? I mean, Kise’s always been… overly affectionate.”

“To you, yeah?” Moriyama says quizzically. “But I did ask him one time—what it was he saw in you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re a stand-up guy, the number one bro I want at my back. But the dude’s a _model_ with _superpowers_. He could literally have anyone he wanted. Millions of people all over Japan are in love with that guy. But Kise just said it didn’t matter how many people loved him, the only person he’d ever love was you.”

Kasamatsu puts down his sandwich, losing his appetite.

It is somewhat humiliating to realize there was something everyone knew but him.

“Soo… Kise didn’t confess to you?” Moriyama says. “Did you just realize it?”

“No, he didn’t confess,” Kasamatsu says.

“Oh. Damn. Don’t tell him we told you, OK? He’ll kill us.”

“Don’t—don’t say that,” Kasamatsu says, still feeling depressed.

“I must say, it’s been really useful, Kise brings all the ladies to the court, but never goes out with any of them,” Moriyama says thoughtfully.

“It’d probably be best if you just continue pretending you don’t know,” Kobori says worriedly. “But if you have to—just reject him nicely, OK? I think he’s a lot more fragile than he lets on.”

You have no idea, Kasamatsu wants to say. He’s angry and sad and he has the intense urge to kick both Moriyama and Kobori in the head.

But he’s mostly just mad at himself, so he doesn’t say anything.

*

He needs to talk to Kise. That’s his top priority.

(He’s still not entirely sure what he’s going to _say_ to Kise, but that’s neither here nor there.)

So after school he sends another text to Kise.

_If you don’t come home right now I’m going to go out looking for you. And Haizaki._

It seems cowardly, using Kise’s concern for him against him. He’ll apologize when he sees the idiot again.

He sends Mizuki and Ren to stay over at a friend’s house—he wants them out of harm’s way. He thinks about what he’s going to say to Kise and immediately discards a dozen different responses.

Kise comes bursting through the door, startling him mid-thought. “Senpai, you shouldn’t joke like that!”

“Where have you been idiot?!” Kasamatsu yells, kicking Kise furiously in the back. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

Kise grimaces, but Kasamatsu thinks he also looks relieved. He’s clearly reassured that this is in fact, Kasamatsu, and not Haizaki he’s dealing with. “I’ve been coordinating with the others. I’ve been nearby, though! I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Senpai!”

The thought that Kise had been lurking in the shadows like an overprotective stalker is too sad to contemplate. Kasamatsu runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “Kise, we need to talk.”

Kise stiffens. He looks frightened. Then he nods grimly. “And we will. Just—after this is over, OK?”

“No, we need to talk _now,_ ” Kasamatsu says, and then he winces at how angry he sounds. He always sounds angry when he talks to Kise. He usually _is_ angry. He’s angry and violent and he kicks him and hits him more than he should. How could Kise fall in love with him? He’s still partially convinced everyone’s wrong. It seems far more likely that Kise’s just playing some elaborate prank on everyone. It would make more sense than for him to develop feelings for the person who’s probably meaner to him than anyone else—unless he’s a masochist or something. “Kise…”

Kise reaches over and covers Kasamatsu’s mouth. Kasamatsu is rendered speechless because Kise almost never touches him (another reason he’s sure everyone must be wrong.)

“Please, Senpai. I can’t—whatever it is you’re going to say, I can’t hear it right now. I will, I promise I’ll listen, just not now.”

They stand like that for a few seconds—Kise’s hand over Kasamatsu’s mouth, Kise’s hand is warm against his lips, and he looks so sad and resigned.

Kasamatsu’s phone rings, startling both of them. Kasamatsu pulls back. “It’s Mizuki,” he says, looking at the ID. “I better get this. _Don’t_ go anywhere, we’re not done.”

He grabs his phone and answers in the kitchen, “Mizuki? What’s up?”

“Is this ‘Kasamatsu-senpai?” Mizuki’s voice sneers over the phone. “We’ve never officially met. Although I took you for a ride once.”

Kasamatsu’s heart stops. His whole body grows cold. He thought he’d understood his own capacity for fear but everything he’s ever felt before pales to how he feels right now. “What have you done to my brother?”

For once in his life, he’s not even yelling. Sheer terror has replaced all capacity for rage.

“Nothing… yet. I could hurt him, _both_ of them, really easy. I think that would hurt _Ryouta,_ but I don’t think it would hurt him as much as hurting _you_ would. So if you don’t want anything to happen to your precious little brothers, you better do what I say.”

“Anything,” Kasamatsu whispers. “I’ll do anything. Just… don’t—don’t hurt them.”

Haizaki rattles off a meeting place. “And don’t tell Yellow about this conversation, understand? Otherwise, something unfortunate might happen.”

The phone call ends, and Kasamatsu still feels frozen in fear. He turns around—

—and stops.

Kise’s standing in the doorway, his eyes wide.

The Miracles don’t just have superpowers; they are physically superior in almost every way. Kasamatsu knows how good Kise’s hearing is.

“I have to. They’re my _brothers,_ ” Kasamatsu says hoarsely. His hands are shaking—because what if Kise _stops_ him? What if he picks him over Mizuki and Ren?

Kise just nods his head sadly. “I know.”

Then, quicker than Kasamatsu has ever seen Kise move before, Kise leaps forward and tackles Kasamatsu. He’s behind him with one hand over his mouth and an arm across his neck before Kasamatsu can even process what’s happening. He struggles but Kise’s grip only tightens, reminding Kasamatsu just how strong the younger boy is. If Kise had ever seriously fought Kasamatsu, the Third Year would have never stood a chance.

“I’m sorry, Senpai,” Kise whispers into his ear. “I’m so, so sorry. But what good am I if I can’t even protect the one I love?”

Kasamatsu blacks out.

*

He wakes up with a headache and more angry than he’s ever felt in his life. His cell phone is missing, and he has a pretty good idea where it went. Luckily, his dad lives in the Stone Age and still has a landline, so he immediately calls Mizuki.

“Nii-san?” Mizuki says. “What’s wrong?”

_Thank God,_ Kasamatsu thinks. “Where are you? Where’s Ren?”

“We’re at Souta’s house, where you sent us,” Mizuki says, confused. “Where else would we be?”

“Put Ren on the phone,” He needs to verify that _both_ of his brothers are Haizaki-free. Hearing Ren’s voice pipe over the phone is enough to reassure him that the worst hasn’t happened, and he makes Ren pass the phone back to Mizuki.

Mizuki’s voice cascades worry. “Is something wrong? Should we come home?”

“No! Stay there. And don’t go anywhere. If someone tells you to leave the house, even if it’s me, don’t, OK? Don’t trust anyone.”

He hangs up before Mizuki can protest. Then he darts out the door, running to the meeting place Haizaki had told him about.

He doesn’t have them, Kasamatsu thinks frantically. But it’d been the message anyway—he _can_ get them, any time he wants. Anywhere. As long as Haizaki is alive, Mizuki and Ren will never be safe.

He understands Kise a little better now.

*

He arrives either just in time or too late, depending on your thoughts on the matter.

He bursts through the doors of the abandoned warehouse just in time to see himself stab Haizaki in the gut.

“Kise!” he yells. He’s never seen Kise be him before. It’s stranger than he would have thought.

Haizaki—or at least, the person Kasamatsu assumes is Haizaki, he’s never actually seen him before—pushes the Kise-Kasamatsu away and bolts. He runs much faster than someone who has just been stabbed should. Kise turns to run after him, but Kasamatsu tackles him to the ground.

“Senpai, he’s getting away!” Kise howls.

“Good!” Kasamatsu yells. “I can’t let you kill him, Kise. I won’t let you be a murderer.”

Kise laughs harshly. “Kasamatsu. I _am_ a murderer. I’m a killer, I’ve killed dozens of people—”

“I know that!” Kasamatsu yells. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I think I’d have got that pretty clearly these past two days! But I’ve known Teiko was creating assassins and soldiers for months now. Dad told me before you even moved in!”

“He did?” Kise glows yellow, and he’s Kise again, which is a relief. “You _knew?_ Then—why are you stopping me?”

Kasamatsu grits his teeth, clenches his fist, and punches Kise in the face, harder than he’s ever punched anyone before.

Then he grabs Kise by the collar, pulls him forward, and kisses him on the mouth.

Kise’s eyes widen and he pulls back. He eyes Kasamatsu warily, like he’s trying to see if this is some sort of trick. Whatever he sees there makes him sad. “Don’t do this, Senpai. Not for Haizaki’s sake.”

Kasamatsu shakes him. “I’m not doing this for _Haizaki,_ I’m doing this for _you_. What the hell, Kise? Do you think I’m prostituting myself for justice?”

Kise hesitates, which leads Kasamatsu to think that _was_ what he was thinking. Kasamatsu hits him on the head, but only lightly. “I’m doing this for _you,_ ” he says again, more gently this time. “Kise, nothing you did at Teiko matters—you were a victim. But if you kill Haizaki now, then killing is always going to be your solution, and you’ll never be anything but what Teiko made you to be. You’ll always be GM-Y626 and not Kise Ryouta. And please—please. I need you to be Kise Ryouta.”

He’s shaking and crying now. He’s still standing over Kise and holding onto his collar, so he just slumps onto him, burying his face into Kise’s shoulder.

He feels Kise shiver beneath him. Kise’s body is incredibly tense, and he’s not touching Kasamatsu back. “Someone told you,” he says quietly.

“The whole world told me,” Kasamatsu says, muffled into Kise’s shoulder.

“Senpai—you don’t know what I want from you.” His whole body is rejecting Kasamatsu’s touch; Kasamatsu expects to be pushed away any moment now, but Kise’s hands remain on the ground, clenched tightly, like he’s restraining himself.

Kasamatsu feels horrified and embarrassed because he’s not sure if he’s being rejected or not. He doesn’t let Kise go, though. He feels with 100% certainty that if he lets Kise go now he’ll lose him forever.

“I didn’t—I never told you how I felt for a _reason_. I was sure you’d reject me, but more than that—Senpai, if you _didn’t_ I’d take all of you. Everything. I would consume you, Senpai. I’d take more than you’re willing to give so don’t—don’t tempt me. I won’t be able to stop myself—”

Kasamatsu kisses him again. “Don’t underestimate me, brat.”

Something in Kise snaps. He lunges forward and grabs Kasamatsu, pulling him tightly to him. He kisses him like he’s been starving all his life.

The grand total of the kisses in Kasamatsu’s life before five minutes ago is zero. So nothing prepares him for Kise’s ferocity and passion, or the fact that he’s clearly a professional kisser because everything he does sets Kasamatsu on fire. Kasamatsu feels like he’s being swept away in a typhoon; he doesn’t even know what he’s doing—he’s arching against Kise’s touch and making a lot of embarrassing keening sounds and Kise holds him and kisses him like the world is about to end. Kasamatsu feels like he’s about to explode.

Kise’s hands drift under his shirt and Kasamatsu regains a sense of self. He grips Kise’s wrists and pulls back, blushing furiously. “ _Not_ in an abandoned warehouse.”

Kise blinks, like he’s waking up from a daze. “But—somewhere else?”

Kasamatsu blushes even harder, which he didn’t think was possible. “Yeah. Somewhere else. When—when the threat is over. We need to go get Mizuki and Ren. And come up with a plan that doesn’t involve murder.”

Kise looks like he wants to protest. But then he nods and pulls away. “OK, Senpai. I’ll hold you to that.” A phone rings, and Kise pulls out his phone, reminding Kasamatsu that Kise still has _his_ phone.

He’s about to ask for it back, but Kise has the strangest look on his face.

“Who is it?” Kasamatsu says, with sinking dread. If _anything_ happens to his brothers…

“It’s Momoicchi,” Kise says. Then he smiles brightly. “We can relax for a bit, Senpai! She says Aominecchi caught Haizaki. He’s not going anywhere.”

“So Mizuki and Ren are safe?” Kasamatsu blurts out.

“For now,” Kise says, putting his phone away. “We should check up on them just in case anyway.”

There’s more to it than that. Kasamatsu’s pretty sure he knows what. But, like a coward, he decides not to pursue the matter. “Alright.”

“And then, when they’re safe, we can check into a love hotel! I know one that’s—ow! Senpai! Be gentle with me, I’m a younger man!”


	9. Chapter 9 ~Interlude~

When Aomine finds Haizaki he’s already bleeding. Kise’s work no doubt. But it takes more than that to kill a Miracle, and Aomine only briefly wonders why Kise didn’t finish the job.

“Blue,” Haizaki says, sounding disgusted. “I have no fight with you.”

“Don’t be stupid, Gray.” And Aomine’s tired, so very tired of all this bullshit. “You could have just left it alone, you know? Taken your crack at freedom and—”

“And what?” Haizaki sneers. “Go to school? Get myself a human family and a human lover and pretend I’m normal? Get real. Have you always been such a goody goody?”

“Don’t fuck around,” Aomine growls. “Do you even know what they had to go through for this chance? How hard Kise and Tetsu and the rest of them have worked so they could be happy? I’m not going to let you come in here and ruin that just because you can’t let go of Teiko.”

“I’m not going to stop,” Haizaki says. “Never. I’m going to have my revenge on Yellow and Red and all of you who thought you were better than me. So if you don’t want that to happen you better stop me yourself.”

Aomine glows blue. “Fine. Then I’ll do just that.”

*

“Kasa-senpai is worried about Kichan,” Momoi had said. She had barely looked up from her computer since they’d left Denny’s, so if she’s coming to him now it must be important. “He doesn’t want Kichan to kill Gray.”

Aomine had never quite known what to make of Kasamatsu Yukio. He was the first human who had ever stuck around the Miracles long enough to try and understand them. He was weak, in a human way, and it Kise’s obsession had been a source of endless irritation in their younger years. But, on the whole, the Kaijo Third Year was a human Aomine respected.

And, in this matter, he agreed with Kasamatsu, but perhaps for different reasons. Kise could kill Gray and still come back from it, still have the chance to live a normal life.

But not if Kasamatsu gave up on him. If Kise lost Kasamatsu’s respect, then there would be no saving him.

Aomine had fought every change with all his power. He’d argued against escaping Teiko, he’d argued against staying at the JSDF base, he’d argued against going to a normal high school, he’d argued against joining the basketball club. Over and over again, he’d lost the battle.

But the others—Kuroko, Kise, Midorima, even Murasakibara, against all odds—they were finally finding safe harbor. They were finally leaving Teiko behind.

And Aomine was going to do everything he could to ensure it stayed that way.

*

Momoi helps him get rid of the body with a hardened gaze, proving that she might not have experienced the darkest horrors of Teiko but she was a soldier, just like them, all the same.

“You know, Satsuki—when you asked about whether or not we could love? I never said anything.”

“I know,” Momoi says.

There is only a sliver of a moon out right now, but the Miracles can see in the dark. Aomine looks at Momoi and thinks about how she’s much stronger than anyone ever gives her credit for. In her own way, she was just as strong as Kuroko. Both of them saw the horrors and refused to accept that this was the only way to live.

“I never doubted we could love,” Aomine confesses. “Because I always loved you. I loved all of you.”

He knows it’s out of character for him to talk like this. Maybe killing Gray has affected him more than he thought. He never liked Gray, but they were comrades, once upon a time.

But Momoi just smiles, saving him. “I know, Dai-chan. I always knew that. Don’t you remember what you said to Tetsu-kun? Before we left Teiko?”

“What are you talking about?” Aomine asks.

Momoi chuckles. “Never mind. Tetsu-kun is more powerful than we think.”

Aomine snorts. “I know _that._ ”

*

Momoi lied to Kasamatsu, but only Kuroko knew it was a lie. She never begged Kuroko to save the others. She’d only ever begged him to save Aomine.

*

Back when she was just GM-P256 she knew she had to play a delicate game. The Pink Twos were lucky—they provided intelligence support but they never had to get their hands dirty, didn’t have to risk their lives. She had been to Room 101 only once, as an early conditioning tool, but she had never given the scientists a reason to send her back.

Until the day she hacked Teiko’s files, she’d never seriously thought about leaving. She had laughed at Black’s attempts to propose escape, just like the rest of them. Teiko’s life wasn’t easy, but she knew it, it was safer than the unknown world of the humans.

But she read the files deciding she should be the first to create naturally born Projects. She knew she was meant to pair with Blue, she’d known that her entire life. But here the file was stating she should also mate with Red and Green and Yellow and Purple and it was too awful to even consider.

She was a superior being, with superior intelligence. But Teiko had made escape _impossible._ They had embedded tracking devices somewhere on their bodies, and a chip in their neck designed to explode should a Teiko scientist decide to detonate it. There were security cameras everywhere, and to top that off there were Rainbows who could negate their power and Golds who could read their minds. Any attempt to escape would be stopped before it began. No matter how many plans she came up with, the only thing that she could think of to feasibly get her out of this was to talk to Black.

She approached him one day after hours. She’d hacked the surveillance system, so the cameras wouldn’t see her slip into Black’s room.

He’d been startled by her appearance. She got straight to the point. “You know they’re going to scrap you, right?”

Black had just looked at her in his calm way. He still wore the shackles that kept him from reacting, but it had been years since it was necessary to shock him for having an emotional response. It was unfair to try and upset him—if he _had_ reacted, he’d hardly be sympathetic to her for causing him physical pain.

“Yes,” Black had said. “I am aware.”

It was right there in Black’s file—“marked for Scrapping.” After Black’s insubordination in Shanghai, there was very little reason for Teiko to keep him alive.

“They have a date picked out and everything,” Pink pressed on. “You have less than three months to live.”

Black began to glow. “What exactly is your point, Pink?”

Pink was taken aback. She had only seen Black’s power used on other people—if he was glowing, then the person wouldn’t be able to see him. But she could see him now.

“What are you doing? Your misdirection isn’t working,” she said crossly.

“I am not directing your gaze. I am ensuring that you will not remember this conversation,” Black said calmly.

“What? You can’t do that,” Pink faltered. “Can you?”

“You are wasting time, Pink. Why are you here?”

Pink paused. She knew what Black was capable of—she’d read his file. He could make people momentarily forget his presence, but it was ineffective. It wore off the more people knew him, the more attention he brought to himself. That’s why he was a failure, marked to be scrapped. His quirk of inducing amnesia instead of invisibility had interested Teiko—that’s why they let him live for so long. They had tried to increase his ability the best they could. Had Black been able to induce other kinds of amnesia, he might have bought himself more time.

But if Black had more abilities that Pink didn’t know about, then that meant he had abilities _Teiko_ didn’t know about.

“I want to escape,” she blurted out. “You always said we should. Do you think it’s possible?”

“Yes,” Black said immediately. “I have a plan to escape. I will.”

And the way he said that—emotionless and glowing black—made her believe him right away.

“Could—could it include me?”

Black thought about it. She held her breath. If she had been asked, she would have said that she was closest to Black, right after Blue. White had been the only other female Project in their Generation—she had been friends with White, she had loved White. But White was a Healer, and the more she healed others, the more her own organs failed. Teiko still hadn’t fixed that in the White Tens. She’d watched White slowly die, and she had grieved. The others hadn’t understood her grief—mourning the dead was a foreign concept at Teiko. Only Black had understood, because he had lost Orange. Only Black had been kind.

So she liked Black, but she knew better than to expect him to save her. Selflessness did not last long in Teiko.

“Yes. Your ability to hack the computers and cameras will come in handy.”

Pink felt relief spike with fear—the reality of escaping was just as terrifying as the thought of staying.

Escape had a lot of dangers—failure, obviously. That they would die, or worse, that they would be captured and tortured and life at Teiko would be more terrible than it was now. But even success was scary, and that was the fear that Pink fixated on. If they escaped, they would be all alone.

“Can we bring the others?” she asked.

Black shook his head. “It would attract too much attention. Teiko might be willing to let you or I go, but they would never stop hunting for the others.”

Pink accepted that as true. “But—Blue? Couldn’t we save Blue?” She couldn’t remember a life without Blue—she didn’t want a life without him.

Black hesitated. Pink could follow his thoughts. Blue had been the first one to abandon Black, but he’d also been the first person to argue for Black’s necessity. Teiko might have scrapped Black a lot sooner, had Blue not argued for his use.

“I could ask him. But I do not think he would agree,” Black said finally.

*

Pink did not remember the conversation until Black touched her on the wrist. Then it all came back to her. She took a few minutes to adjust to the returned memories. And a few seconds to readjust her opinion of Black. His ability was _a lot_ stronger than anyone knew.

“Please do not talk very much during this interview,” Black said. “It will make it more difficult to erase the memory.”

She nodded, but she was still reeling from the knowledge that he could do any of this at all.

They approached GM-B599 together, and as requested, Pink said nothing. Black glowed the entire time.

“Pink and I are planning to escape,” Black said, getting straight to the point.

Blue looked at Pink for confirmation, and Pink nodded, begging him with her eyes. _Come with me, please. I need you._

“You won’t succeed,” Blue said angrily. “You’re just going to get yourself killed. And maybe that doesn’t make difference for _you,_ but Pink—you have it good here.”

Pink could feel the tears form, but she promised she wouldn’t say anything.

“I am confident in our chances of success,” Black said. And that was all he said. Even Pink wasn’t sure what the plan was, but when Black talked, she felt like she could trust him.

“You really believe that,” Blue said, anger draining out of his voice. He looked long and hard at Black, and then looked at Pink, then back to Black.

“There isn’t a life for me outside of Teiko,” Blue said finally. “It’s too late for me.”

Pink let out a noise of protest, but she clapped her hand over her mouth. She was crying openly now, but still she kept quiet.

“Save the others,” Blue said, like an order.

Black tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“Yellow, Green and Purple. Red if you can convince him. Tell _them_ your escape plan; get them to leave with you.”

Black didn’t let his response show. “Why do you care?”

Blue was the first of them to be marked as a Success. The first one who didn’t need the others to survive, the first to leave Black behind to die. Even Pink didn’t expect him to say something like this.

“Who knows?” Blue said, a hint of bitterness to his voice.

“I refuse,” Black said calmly. “Teiko will never let the others escape. And it would attract too much attention, even if we succeeded. I would have to restructure my whole plan.”

“But you could save them, if you wanted to,” Blue challenged.

Black didn’t say anything.

“If you succeed, do you understand what will happen to the rest of us?” Blue said quietly. “All of us who are left behind will be at risk. I can survive another trip to Room 101—as many as it takes. The others can’t. That’s _if_ Teiko decides our Generation is worth keeping around after your betrayal. If you leave, you condemn the rest of us to die. If you can live knowing that, then fine. Do whatever you want. But if you can’t, then save the others.”

Black didn’t say anything, but Pink was pretty sure she knew what he was thinking. She can see Black’s response: “You left me to die. You _all_ left me to die. Why shouldn’t I do the same?” He didn’t say it, but the words were there in the room just the same.

And even _she_ thought Blue was asking too much from Black.

“Fine,” Black said. “I will think about your request.” He touched Pink’s wrist and pulled her away.

*

Momoi still isn’t sure what changed Kuroko’s mind. But he had contacted all of them and they all agreed to escape, except Aomine. It had killed her, but she’d left him behind.

Teiko had sent him to retrieve them though. And then he’d changed his mind and come with them.

“Do you believe in fate?” Aomine asks, after they dispose of the body.

“Are you feeling OK?” Momoi asks, because he’s saying all kinds of things that are out of character for him. And maybe killing Gray upset him more than he’s letting on.

Aomine shrugs. “It’s just something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever be anything but what Teiko made us be. I’m a killer, Satsuki. I knew it then, and I know it now. That’s all I’ll ever be. I never had any other choice.”

Momoi considers this. “I think there’s a difference. I think we _do_ have a choice. Teiko designed us to be a mated pair, but I _love_ you, Dai-chan. That’ something _I_ chose, and that won’t change no matter how I was designed. And Teiko made you a killer—but you chose to kill for Kichan’s sake. That’s different then when Teiko picked your missions for you. Maybe some things are predetermined, but the choices we make are what really matter.”

Aomine doesn’t meet her gaze, but there’s a small smile on his lips. “You’re too damn smart sometimes, Satsuki.”

“Of course I am, I’m the smartest super being there is. Don’t forget that.”

“Never.”

*

Aomine lied to Momoi, but only Kuroko knew it was a lie. The truth was, he knew exactly what conversation she was talking about, it was just too damn embarrassing to admit that.

*         

When the others escaped, the alarms in Teiko nearly deafened him. They all had enhanced hearing so the alarms were punishment as much as they were alerts.

One of the head scientists came to him. “You’re still here.”

“Of course I am! Where else would I be? What the fuck is happening?” Blue demanded.

“Your Generation has escaped.”

“What? I thought that was impossible!”

“It should have been,” the scientist said. “You really don’t know?”

“Of course not!” Blue said. The scientist had a child Gold with him—someone who could read his thoughts. “They _all_ left? Even Pink?”

“Even Pink. They left _you_ behind.”

The enormity of the betrayal sent him reeling. They _left_ him? _Pink_ left him?

“We are going to catch them,” the scientist said. “There is no way we won’t. But you know them better than anyone. If you retrieve them, their punishments will be less severe.”

So Blue went after them. He felt betrayed and he wanted to hurt them. But he still wanted them to be spared. If they were going to be brought in, he wanted to be the one who did it.

He hit Purple first, as the one most likely to give him trouble. He knocked the taller Project to the ground and immediately hit Red next. He was about to target Green when a flash of black caught his eye.

Then he remembered everything.

“There isn’t a life for me outside of Teiko… save the others.”

He stopped running and stared at Black. Black met his gaze like a challenge, as if he was saying, “Now what are you going to do?”

“Fine,” he said, as Purple and Red got back to their feet, ready for a fight. “Fine, you win. I’ll go with you.”

“Decide that before hitting us,” Red said crossly. “Green, cut out his trackers. Pink, help disable the explosive. Purple, Yellow, Black—give us cover.”

He issued orders like he was in charge, but as Green cut into his neck and back, Blue watched Black, knowing he was the one who planned all of this.

And when the JSDF came, Blue knew that was part of Black’s plan as well. How he chose to restructure things after the plan to include everyone changed things.

Red sent Yellow to meet the soldiers because he was the most charming. “Kill him if you have to,” Red muttered under his breath, giving an Absolute Order.

Yellow nodded and walked forward, meeting Kasamatsu Youji for the first time.

Blue didn’t see the point—leaving Teiko for the military base. But at that point, he had no choice but to trust Black’s plan.

*

Almost four years later, and he still has no choice but to blindly trust in that plan.


	10. Chapter 10

After the Great Denny’s Discussion, Himuro calls one of his old friends in America.

“What’s up, Tatsuya? Did you need more snacks?” his friend says when he picks up. He’s provided many treats for Murasakibara over the past months.

“I always need more snacks, but that’s not actually why I’m calling,” Himuro says. “It’s been awhile since we talked. I thought I should update you on my life. I’m dating one of the Miracles now.”

“You’re kidding,” his friend says, impressed. “That’s like a life’s goal accomplished for you. Which one?”

“P989,” Himuro risks.

He hears his friend snort over the phone. “Well, that figures. You always did like them big.”

And Himuro smiles, because the designations had never been made public. “Hey, Shuu—I have a strange question to ask you…”

*

Murasakibara and Himuro decide to stay in Tokyo until the danger passes. Coach yells at both of them for missing so much school, but Himuro already decides that if this leads to them being held back for a year, then that’s another year he gets to spend with his boyfriend, and it’ll be totally worth it.

Plus, he doesn’t feel right leaving when the others are so distraught.

They stay over at Kagami’s, neither one having enough funds to keep staying at a hotel.

“You can both stay,” Kagami says grudgingly. “But you have to promise I’ll never walk in on you two doing it.”

“Oh, Taiga. You know I can’t promise that,” Himuro says blithely. Kagami turns beet red but lets them stay anyway. That’s family, for you.

*

There is a small part of him that doesn’t quite believe that they are in physical danger. Even though he had been targeted by Gray at one point, Himuro still doesn’t believe that _he_ is in danger. Kise believes Kasamatsu is, that much is clear. And Midorima believes Takao is. Murasakibara seems to be ready to crush anyone who looks at Himuro the wrong way. (But he always sort of looks like that, so Himuro doesn’t think his response is an accurate reflection of their present state of danger.)

So he asks Kuroko instead, because Kuroko comes over to Kagami’s house after school fairly regularly. Himuro doesn’t know Kuroko all that well, but now that he knows Murasakibara is not in love with him, Himuro decides the kid can’t be all that bad. He hopes Kuroko is the most rational Miracle.

“Do you believe we’re in a lot of danger?”

Kuroko thinks about this question as he moves about Kagami’s kitchen like he lives there (something Himuro notes with deep fascination). “Gray and Green 7284 are killers with grudges against the Successful Projects. It is very probable that they are a threat to the Miracles and everyone connected to them.”

Himuro mulls this over. Murasakibara and Kagami are in the living room watching television. This is probably the only time Himuro will ever be able to talk to Kuroko like this. “Even Taiga?”

Kuroko hesitates. “I was not a Successful Project. And I have managed to keep out of the public spotlight. It is my selfish hope that this will keep those around me safe.”

Himuro nods. He had done extensive research on the Miracles before moving to Japan. Everyone knew there were seven Miracles, but there was very little proving Kuroko’s existence except for vague rumors.

“And what about Gold and Silver? Are they as dangerous as everyone says?”

“Very much so,” says Kuroko. “But not in the same way. I do not believe they will try to kill anyone outright, as the other two might. I suspect they have a much more sinister plan.”

Kuroko seems so calm when he says this that it’s hard to take his words seriously. But Himuro has managed to interrogate Murasakibara a little more about Kuroko, and he knows better than to take him lightly. He knows that Kuroko’s expressionless demeanor came at the cost of physical torture and that he was the brains behind the Teiko escape. He knows Kagami is in love with him, but he has no way of knowing if Kuroko is even capable of reciprocating those feelings. It is his own personal suspicion that Kasamatsu is probably right—Kuroko _is_ the nicest Miracle—but Kuroko is also probably the hardest to befriend. There is an aloofness to Kuroko that has nothing to do with his emotionless nature. It’s like he keeps everyone at a distance.

“Kuroko, would you mind answering a few questions I have been wondering about for some time?” Himuro asks politely.

Kuroko blinks slowly. Himuro will say this for the Miracle; he puts a lot of thought into what he says. “Alright.”

They both know Kuroko has agreed to a promise of honesty Himuro didn’t voice out loud.

“I have gathered from Atsushi that the escape from Teiko was your idea. I have also gleaned, although I am not sure how much Atsushi himself is aware of this, that it was your intent all along to get the Japanese military involved. Is this true?”

Although Kuroko’s expression does not change, Himuro thinks he is impressed. “That is correct.”

“And the other Miracles do not know that was your plan?” Himuro speculates.

“I believe by now most of them have guessed that it was my plan all along. But they did not know it at the time we escaped.”

“Why? Why take that risk? You had no way of knowing the government wouldn’t dispose of you right then and there.”

Kuroko nods. “It _was_ a risk. I knew there was a high probability of the military viewing us as a threat. Simply put, I had no choice but to take that risk. It was my original intent to escape Teiko by myself and live out my life as a normal human. As soon as the others became involved in the plan, I made the decision to involve the military. A normal life would have been impossible. Teiko would have never stopped hunting for the others; we would have had to hide all our lives. We could never stay together, and we would have to live in constant fear of exposure. The only thing that could prevent Teiko from finding us was if the whole world knew what Teiko had done. If the JSDF could be convinced we were just children, then there was a chance we could eventually have our freedom. I gambled on the JSDF. In this scenario, the unknown devil of the military was preferable to the known devil of Teiko.”

Kuroko is only confirming what Himuro has come to suspect. The pageantry of it all—the children coming to live at a military base, the attempts to socialize them, the fan websites, even Kise’s modeling career—it all fit the narrative of the Miracles trying very hard to appear non-threatening in the eyes of the public. Himuro naturally assumed it was the JSDF’s plan until it occurred to him that no military in the world would put so much effort into rehabilitating super-powered children who were trained assassins and soldiers. It would be much more natural to either use them or dispose of them.

There had to be some other mastermind. And Himuro was looking at him.

It was even more impressive when you considered the fact that Kuroko must have come up with this plan when he was thirteen.

“I imagine it was Akashi who did most of the actual work,” Himuro says thoughtfully. “What did he say? ‘Absolute Order is a scalpel?’ I imagine he persuaded the JSDF to see you all as innocent children who must be saved.”

“Momoi-san and Kise-kun were essential as well,” Kuroko says. “They were both designed to be attractive and charming. Akashi’s Orders would not have worked so well if those two hadn’t been able to appear as innocents.”

It occurs to Himuro that it’s strange for Kuroko to tell him all this. He was willing to bet even Kagami did not know the extent of Kuroko’s machinations. Not that Kuroko _wouldn’t_ tell Kagami—but Himuro figured it wouldn’t occur to Kagami to ask. And Kuroko definitely seemed like the kind of person who never volunteered information.

“So then the real danger is Nash Gold,” Himuro remarks thoughtfully. Kuroko had shown them all Gold’s interview last night. “And his plan to turn the world against the Miracles.”

That dangerously simple question—why did Teiko create them?—was enough to plan seeds of doubt. There were rumors of past assassinations and terrorist attacks that were coming into question and Himuro knew all too well where speculation would lead.

“I don’t understand his plan,” Himuro says, when it is clear that Kuroko is done volunteering information. “He is also a ‘Project,’ yes? Even if he turns the world against you, all you have to do is ‘out’ him and whatever punishment falls on you will fall on him.”

Himuro has read too many comic books not to have some sort of sense for what the fallout would be. People frighten easily—and the Miracles _are_ scary. If the public starts to see the Miracles as a danger to society, they might be locked away for the rest of their lives.

The intense nausea-inducing wave of fear comes to him as a surprise. Himuro has had a lot of boyfriends before, but he’s never really been in love. The thought of losing Murasakibara is frightening; but equally terrifying is his own certainty that if Murasakibara had to flee the country and hide for the rest of his life, Himuro would go with him.

“I do not believe it will be as easy to discredit Gold as it is to discredit us,” Kuroko says. “At any rate, Himuro-san, there is no need for you to worry about what Gold might say about us.”

Himuro flinches, feeling stung. It’s like Kuroko is saying, “This doesn’t involve you” and how could he think that?

“They’ll come for him first,” Himuro says quietly, angrily. He clenches his fists under the table but wills himself not to attack Kagami’s crush. “Don’t you understand that? They’ll all turn on him first. Not _you_ or Kise or Momoi. _Him._ Don’t tell me I shouldn’t worry.”

Kuroko’s expression never changes. “You are right, Himuro-san. That was thoughtless of me. I apologize.”

Himuro nods, accepting the apology, but the oscillating mix of fear and worry and uselessness does not give way.

Murasakibara has always been the scariest Miracle. He is tall and muscular and can crush skulls without ever breaking a sweat. What’s worse, he has never mastered the art of appearing non-threatening. If the public decides to rally with pitchforks and torches, Murasakibara is the first monster they will hunt.

*

At night, he is enclosed by Murasakibara. Murasakibara wraps his arms around him, holds him tight, and tucks his head underneath his chin. Murasakibara makes sure that Himuro’s back faces the wall and that Murasakibara is between Himuro and the rest of the world. Whether or not he did it consciously, Murasakibara is making sure that should there be a late night attacker, they would have to go through him first before ever getting to Himuro.

“I’m going to protect you, Murochin,” Murasakibara whispers into the dark.

Himuro despairs.

_But how am I going to protect you?_

*

When they walk around in the daytime, people stare.

This used to happen a lot at Yosen. The stares, the whispers, the furtive glances away and the cringing. Murasakibara always pretended he didn’t notice and Himuro never stopped smiling. After the basketball games and prolonged exposure, their Yosen classmates stopped looking at Murasakibara like he was going to attack them and even started approaching him when Himuro wasn’t around.

The guarded looks of their classmates only vaguely amused Himuro then. The same looks in the adult passerbys of downtown Tokyo frighten him. He also can’t help but resentfully note the fact that Kagami is also attracting scared glances, whereas Kuroko is not. He supposes if all you knew about the Miracles was that they had godlike bodies and strange colored hair, Kagami fits the description. But he can’t help but think about how _easy_ it would be for Kuroko to disappear and live a normal life.

(He’s ashamed of his own resentment. The fact that Kuroko _doesn’t_ leave the Miracles in order to save himself says a lot about his character. Himuro’s not sure if he would make the same choice, if their positions were reversed. Maybe that’s why there is resentment.)

He loops an arm around Murasakibara’s (whose hands are full of snacks). Such open displays of affection would be unusual in Japan even for a heterosexual couple, but Himuro wants to make it clear he’s linked his fate with the Miracles.

*

It’s Kise’s idea to meet at a Karaoke club. Renting a room gives them enough space and privacy to talk with little chance of being overheard. Himuro’s not entirely sure why they’re not just meeting at Kagami’s, but he suspects it has something to do with the fact that Kagami doesn’t want everyone knowing where he lives. (Considering Akashi once attacked him with scissors, Himuro figures this is not unjustified caution.)

“Senpai and I are dating now!” Kise announces as soon as everyone arrives. He’s been all over Kasamatsu since they walked in—and Kasamatsu hasn’t shoved him away—so this doesn’t come as a complete surprise.

“You don’t need to announce that every time we meet people!” Kasamatsu shouts at roughly the same time Midorima crossly says, “We got your text updates, idiot. _All_ of them.”

“You _texted_ them?” Kasamatsu sputters.

“Only the people who told me it would never happen!” Kise defends. “I needed to rub in their face how wrong they were!”

“Kise’s going to be unbearable. I hope you’re happy, Kasamatsu,” Aomine says.

“Oh Lord,” Kasamatsu says, burying his face in his hands.

“Too late for regrets now!” Kise says, chipper.

“I find it strange that so many of you are attracted to men,” Himuro remarks thoughtfully. That’s two confirmed (and he still has his suspicions regarding Kuroko and Midorima). Two out of seven seems statistically unlikely, _four_ out of seven impossible. When everyone looks at him he just shrugs and says, “When you think about the statistics, it seems like quite the coincidence.”

He stops talking when he realizes how _embarrassed_ all the Miracles look—even Momoi and Aomine look uncomfortable.

Kuroko, the only one who looks normal, replies in a mild tone, “It is not a coincidence. Except for Momoi-san and Aomine-kun, we are all attracted to the same sex. The scientists designed us that way.”

“What?” Takao yelps.

“Shut up, Kuroko,” Midorima says—the reddest and most horrified Miracle in the room.

“I see no point in hiding it, Midorima-kun,” Kuroko says. “The scientists designed us knowing that we would eventually interact with normal humans, and they did not wish to risk the possibility of human-Project offspring. They also wished to ensure there were no undesirable offspring mixes between Projects.”

“But how could they design that?” Takao wonders.

“The people designed super powered humans,” Kise says dryly, “It was not that hard to also make sure they would only be sexually aroused by members of the same sex.”

“You’ve slept with women,” Kasamatsu accuses.

“I’ve also _been_ a woman,” Kise says, rolling his eyes. “No matter how I was originally designed, sexuality becomes a sort of fluid matter for a shapeshifter.”

“Wouldn’t it have just been easier to, I don’t know, make you infertile or something?” Takao asks.

“No,” Aomine says. “They didn’t want us sterile. They just wanted to make sure they controlled the breeding, when it was time for that.”

The uncomfortable silence returns and it’s like they’re all purposefully not looking at Momoi. Himuro winces as the full implications of that sets in. He is momentarily awash with renewed fury against the Teiko scientists, who tried to control so much, control everything. His hand instinctively entwines with Murasakibara’s as he looks across the room. The Miracles found their way to freedom anyway. Himuro will do anything he can to make sure these children get to keep it. Teiko branded the Miracles like they were cattle, planned to breed them like animals, and all the while told them they didn’t deserve love…

“Wow,” Takao says. “Teiko was fucked up.”

The understatement of the century breaks some of the tension as the Miracles can’t help but snort or laugh.

“Now that we have that clarified, perhaps we should turn to the matter at hand,” Akashi says coolly.

He’s the only Miracle (besides Momoi and Aomine) who did not bring an accompanied human. Himuro still feels uneasy around him. Akashi continues with, “Aomine has informed us that Gray is no longer a concern for us.”

“Really? Why?” Kagami says.

Himuro kicks him. He shares a silent conversation with Kuroko with glances and raised brows.

_Are you going to explain it to the idiot?_

_No. He is an idiot._

_He’ll figure it out eventually._

_I doubt it._

_True._

It’s a whole silent exchange that takes place in the span of seconds. Himuro suddenly feels closer to Kuroko and decides he will accept him as his future brother-in-law.

“Details aren’t important for now,” Himuro tells Kagami sweetly. “We should just concentrate on the problems still at hand. I saw on the web today that protests are starting to take place across America regarding the Miracles. Not a lot, but enough to be concerning.”

“In Tokyo too,” Takao says uneasily. “I saw one the other day near one of the churches.”

“7284 is still out there,” Midorima insists. “We should focus on finding him.”

Akashi shakes his head. “7284 is _a_ threat, but Gold poses the biggest danger. Has anyone seen Silver?”

“I have,” Momoi says, sounding disgusted. “I found him in one of the random American interviews. He’s calling himself ‘Jason Silver’ now, and he’s definitely in Japan.”

“It’s the unoriginality of the names that gets me,” Himuro remarks. “‘Silver’ is hardly a proper last name in America. Silverberg, Silverman, there’s a lot of things he could have done with that.”

Akashi sends him a look like he’s wondering why Murasakibara had to bring his pet monkey. “If you know they are in Japan, does that mean you’ve been able to track them, Momoi?”

“Somewhat. I know where they’re staying and where they hang out. They’re mostly in Roppongi when they’re not giving interviews.” She wrinkles her nose in distaste.

“That’s everything we need to know!” Aomine exclaims. “We just find them, take them out, and bam, no more problem.”

“Aomine-kun is missing the obvious problem,” Kuroko says.

“Aomine, you’re an idiot,” Midorima says.

“It is very depressing sometimes to think we were created by the same geniuses,” Akashi remarks.

“The Blue Fives were never meant for strategy,” Momoi says.

“True,” Akashi agrees.

“Oi, are you guys trying to pick a fight?” Aomine demands.

“What’s wrong with Aomine’s plan?” Kagami asks.

Kuroko looks at him with a pitying gaze.

“They’re always in public,” Himuro says.

“Exactly,” Akashi says, sounding like he’s reevaluating Himuro’s status as pet monkey. “And if I were them, I would make sure I always _was_ in public, surrounded by plenty of human witnesses.”

“They have been very outspoken against the Miracles. Should anything happen to them _now,_ especially under mysterious circumstances, it would only prove their point that the Miracles were dangerous,” Kuroko explains.

“Ehhh,” Murasakibara says. “How bothersome. You mean there’s nothing we can do?”

“Not necessarily,” Akashi says, “Momoi would you be able to contact them?”

Momoi bites her lip and nods. “Yes, I believe so. But setting up a meeting…”

“It’s a risk,” Akashi agrees. “But one we just have to take.”

“You’re going to try _talking_ to them?” Kise exclaims. He is not alone with his incredulous glance.

“Diplomacy is sometimes the best opening gambit,” Akashi says, looking at Kuroko. “And at any rate, we will have more information than we do now regarding their intentions if they agree to meet with me.”

“You mean _us,_ ” Midorima corrects.

Akashi raises a brow. “No. I do not.”

“You can’t meet Gold _alone,_ ” Aomine exclaims. “He could kill you. He probably will kill you. Or worse, Mesmerize you into killing _us._ ”

“I am the only one of you that has immunity to Gold’s power.”

“ _Slight_ immunity,” Midorima emphasizes. “A full Gold could overpower you. And even if he couldn’t Mesmerize you, he could still read your mind. Meeting with him would be absurd. You know where all of us live, who we care about—if Gold gets you alone in a room with him you might as well send him an email listing all of our vulnerabilities.”

Akashi sighs, like he’s fed up with being surrounded by idiots. “That’s why I’m not going to know anything important. I also never said I was going alone.”

“What are you—oh,” Midorima stops. “Well. I suppose that could work.”

“ _Could_ that work?” Kise wonders.

“Yeah,” Aomine says snorting. “I’m willing to bet it could.”

Himuro has no idea what they’re talking about, and he’s not alone. The other humans in the room are similarly confused, but it’s a little tiring to always ask for clarification. Himuro doesn’t like these Miracle meetings as much as he thought he would. Whenever they get together it’s just a reminder that Murasakibara belongs to a world Himuro will never be able to enter.

“No,” Kagami says in a flat voice, startling Himuro out of his thoughts. “It’s too risky.”

Himuro looks at his brother, in awe over the fact that he seems to have caught on to something the others are missing.

“That is not for you to decide,” Akashi says coldly. The way he looks at Kagami is like he’s saying, “I might not be my crazier half right now but I will still stab you with scissors if you cross me.”

Kagami holds his ground. “It’s not for _you_ to decide either.”

“True. Kuroko?”

“Akashi-kun is correct. Diplomacy is the better way. But I am not strong enough to do what you ask.”

“You know,” Akashi says casually. “I’m not sure I believe you.”

“Believe me or not, Akashi-kun. But it will not change what I can do. That is why it must be me who talks to Gold.”

Kagami lets out an exclamation and stands up. Akashi quells him with a look before turning his attention back to Kuroko. “That was not my intention.”

“It is the logical choice,” Kuroko says quietly.

Himuro thinks he understands what’s happening now, at least to an extent. The only thing he knows about Kuroko’s ability is what Murasakibara told him so long ago—“he’s forgettable”—but he gathers from the discussion this means Kuroko can alter someone’s memories. He can see why that would come in handy when faced with a mind reader, but he’s not sure why it has to be Kuroko.

“Momoi-san?” Kuroko prompts.

“I can arrange a meeting,” she says. And it’s clear even to Himuro who she’ll set up the meeting for.

It’s probably not the first time Kuroko gets his way instead of Akashi. In fact, Himuro’s willing to bet that Kuroko gets his way in most things.

But it was really easy to underestimate someone you couldn’t remember.

*

The meeting starts to break up once everyone begins to pair off. Momoi and Kuroko have their heads bent together in a quiet congress of their own. Akashi is telling something to Midorima, whose lip is curled in disdain at whatever it is he’s hearing. Murasakibara disappears when his phone rang. (Himuro could hear Coach’s voice yelling from the other line. Himuro forgets sometimes that she’s Murasakibara’s legal guardian, and as such, has some authority over the First Year. Still, Himuro figures she has about five minutes of yelling, tops, before Murasakibara just hangs up the phone.)

Kise seems to be harassing Aomine with updates on his love life, with Kasamatsu trying futilely to shut him up and Takao taking turns teasing all of them.

Himuro meets Kagami’s gaze and makes a motion with his hand to indicate the door, and Kagami nods in agreement. They both step outside of the Karaoke club. Himuro breathes in the fresh air and lets out a long sigh. “These war councils are starting to wear me out,” he says conversationally. “It’s hard to feel like we’re actually in danger. I can’t help but think maybe they’re just blowing this out of proportion, but…”

“You _were_ attacked by Haizaki,” Kagami points out.

Himuro shrugs. He’s still not going to be the one to illuminate Kagami to the fact that Haizaki is very probably dead right now. That can be Kuroko’s job. “Perhaps that’s why I’m having difficulty. Getting beat up, all things considered, is fairly normal. When the Miracles get together they act like Ultron has teamed up with Galactus and Sauron all in one and we’re three days away from the apocalypse.”

“You are such a nerd,” Kagami says.

“But I have a point, don’t I?”

Kagami nods his head. “Yeah, I guess. They’re worried, and it’s hard to be as worried, since we’re not sure what we’re up against.”

“Exactly,” Himuro says. “The bigger problem is the fact that Gold _is_ creating a lot of anti-Miracle sentiment. That much is undeniable. I think the best thing to do is to figure out a way to make the Miracles look good in the eyes of the public. Combat Gold with positive PR.”

“Good luck with that,” Takao says, coming up from behind them. “Those guys have a lot of gifts, but ‘charisma’ is not exactly one of them.”

“Yes,” Himuro sighs. “That _is_ a problem.”

Kasamatsu comes out next, clicking his tongue and rubbing the back of his head.

“Congratulations on your relationship,” Himuro says, smiling pleasantly.

Kasamatsu looks even more embarrassed.

“I am so impressed,” Takao says cheerfully. “You bagged a model with superpowers!”

“He’s Kise,” Kasamatsu says.

“But that’s just it! He’s Kise, but he can also be whoever he wants to be! Imagine the possibilities,” Takao says.

“Mmm,” Himuro makes an intrigued sound as he does just that.

“What do you mean?” Kasamatsu says frowning.

The guy’s eighteen. There’s no way he’s this innocent.

“Well, role-playing alone takes on a whole new level,” Takao explains.

“There are a lot of advantages to having a lover who can look like anyone,” Himuro says helpfully.

“What?” Kasamatsu sputters.

Kise comes out of the Karaoke club laughing. “Oh, Senpai! If that’s something you were interested in, you should have just said. I can—”

“No. Absolutely not. Never. Just—no,” Kasamatsu says, blushing. “Why would I even want that?”

Kise has a way of smiling at Kasamatsu like he’s the only thing that exists. It’s beautiful and Himuro wishes the public could see this side of the Miracles somehow.

“And that’s what makes you so great, Senpai.”

“I always know it’s you, anyway,” Kasamatsu says.

“Yeah, you do. But it could be fun to pretend! Haven’t you ever had any fantasies? I could be Johnny Depp or Channing Tatum, or an NBA player of your choice—”

“For the love of God, stop,” Kasamatsu says.

“Kise-kun is an idiot,” Kuroko says, startling everyone. Himuro hadn’t noticed him come out. “And you can’t be me.”

Kise pouts. “How mean! Senpai doesn’t want to sleep with you anyway, right Senpai?”

“Right now, I’m not entirely sure I want to sleep with _you.”_

“Senpaiiiii,” Kise whines.

“Why can’t you Copy Kuroko?” Himuro asks curiously. “I’ve heard that before, but no one’s ever explained it to me.”

“It’s not that I can’t look like him,” Kise says. “It’s probably easier to demonstrate.”

He glows yellow and then a second Kuroko stands next to the original, making a peace sign.

“Oh. _Huh,_ ” Himuro says.

Because like the rest of Kise’s Copies, he’s identical to Kuroko in every way. However, and it’s hard to explain, but there’s no doubt which one is Kise, because Kise’s more in _focus_ somehow. Himuro’s gaze slides off the original Kuroko whereas he has no trouble seeing the Kise-Kuroko.

“I don’t see the difference,” Takao says, frowning.

“It’s hard to look at Kuroko in normal circumstances,” Himuro explains.

“Because of my Latent Overflow,” Kuroko supplies.

“But you can _see_ Kise. It might fool people, but anyone who knew Kuroko would be suspicious…”

“Right?” Kise whines. “It’s also really _really_ hard to not show emotions! I can copy just about any mannerism, but do you know how hard it is to _not_ do anything?” Kise pouts.

“Please do not do that with my face, Kise-kun,” Kuroko says.

Kise glows yellow and turns back.

“Arara? Is the meeting done?” Murasakibara says, coming back and walking to Himuro’s side. “What was even the point of that?”

Himuro touches his hand. Then he leans in and buries his face into Murasakibara’s chest and breathes in his scent. “Let’s go home, Atsushi.”

“Akita? Or Kagachin’s?”

Anywhere, Himuro wants to say. So long as you’re there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just wanted to note that I felt a lot of apprehension about the aspect of my story regarding having the scientists design the Projects to be attracted to the same sex. I just want to stress that I by no means intend to trivialize the matter of sexuality or to simplify it to the matter of genetic design. It is my sincerest hope that I didn't offend anyone with that part of my story, and if so, I apologize. I go a little more into how the Miracles felt about the subject themselves in Chapter Twelve, so please bear with me. I love my readers and never want to offend them, ever! 
> 
> Also, while I'm leaving chapter notes, I just want to take this time to thank everyone for reading my story! Thank you everyone for commenting, thank you everyone who left kudos, and thank you everyone who are content to just read. Every single one of you is awesome.


	11. Chapter 11 ~Interlude~

Gold and Silver have very deliberately surrounded themselves with humans at all time. This does not concern Kuroko, because he genuinely just wants to talk to them.

He slips away while no one is paying attention. He knows Akashi wants to battle Gold himself, but Akashi wouldn’t prioritize protecting the humans in everyone’s life. If faced with the choice, he would choose Kise over Kasamatsu, Murasakibara over Himuro, Midorima over Takao, every time. He would save Kuroko, but he would leave Kagami to die.

And Kuroko will not allow that to happen.

This is not what he broke them out of Teiko for; this is not what he fought for, this is not why he suffered.

He finds Gold and Silver surrounded by scared women in Roppongi. He clutches his fists, and decides this is just another reason why they must be stopped.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be you,” “Nash” says, eyes taking in and dismissing Kuroko with a glance. “You’re just a failed Black.”

“Yes,” Kuroko says politely. “That is all I am.”

The women are taking Kuroko’s interruption as a chance to escape the attention of Gold and Silver. Now it’s just him and two men who are superior to him in every way. Kuroko sees his own death in their eyes, but this does not faze him. He saw the same thing everyday in the eyes of the Teiko scientists.

“You’re just a fucking child,” Jason Silver says. “If one of our opponents was going to face us, it should at least be one of the Successes.”

“I am not here to fight you. I only wanted to ask you a question. Why are you doing this? We do not need to be enemies.”

Nash laughs. “ _That’s_ what you come all this way for? Shouldn’t it be obvious? This world isn’t big enough for all of us. A new era is coming and right now, there’s too many gods.”

This confirms Kuroko’s worst suspicions. Nash doesn’t want to live amongst the humans, he wants to rule them. With his powers, his and Silver’s, no human authority could stop him from systematic world domination. (Or at least, something resembling world domination.)  So he’s taking out what he sees to be his only threats before making his move.

It is a genius plan. But it is also an incredibly stupid one. Kuroko looks at the superior men and feels nothing but contempt.

“You will not succeed,” Kuroko announces.

“And who is going to stop us? _You?_ ”

“Perhaps,” Kuroko says. “But that is not what I mean. You underestimate humans.”

“What?” Nash snarls. His lazy stance disappears, replaced with lethal fury.

Kuroko stares at him resolutely. “You think humans will be easy to conquer. They will not be.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Nash says. “ _You_ are not our equal. Those monkeys called ‘Successes’ are not our equal. The Golds and Silvers were superior to every other Project. Your skills might be impressive, but only impressive for what monkeys can do. And _humans_ are less than monkeys, they are scum. They will fall to their knees before me and know what terror is. There’s only one true power in this world, monkey, and that’s fear.”

Over and over again, those in power make the same mistake.

“You have learned nothing from Teiko,” Kuroko says, knowing he’s wasting his breath. “Fear is not the ultimate power. In the end, kindness will win every time.”

Nash stares at Kuroko for a full incredulous minute before punching him in the face, sending him flying into a nearby table.

*

When he was just GM-B452 there was only one person he loved, and that was GM-O394.

In Teiko, you were born in a world of fear, and fear was god. You feared for your life, feared the scientists, you feared your own failures.

Black was born in that world of fear and all he knew was pain and he hated everything. He hated the bracelets around his wrists that sent shocks down his body whenever he responded; he hated the scientists who encouraged him to remain emotionless even as they electrified his temples, trying to understand where they went wrong. They tried for invisibility and instead got this amnesia-inducing creature. Black hated the other Projects, who could laugh and cry and yell so easily all the while never remembering that he even was around.

“Black! Black, I brought you dinner!”

The only thing he didn’t hate was the Project called Orange, who remembered him and always included him when he could. Orange smiled triumphantly as he held out his offerings to Black.

Black held out his hands and Orange dropped two rolls and an onigiri.

Black had been punished for screaming out when the scientists hit him. “You must learn to control your reactions,” they said sternly. “Even under pain. Otherwise you’re no good to us.”

The shocks made by the bracelets left him weak and he was denied dinner because of his failure. He stared at his food, not quite believing it was real. “How did you get this?”

“I asked the food lady for extras,” Orange said proudly. “She likes me! She said I should eat more since I’m so small.”

 _Extra food._ Orange got someone to give him extra food. It was unthinkable. Black bit into his food cautiously, then he devoured it voraciously before someone could take it away.

Orange was the only one who could ever get the scientists to laugh. He knew more about them than any other Project. He would casually say, “She has two kids our age” or “He just got married” like it was no big deal. The scientists kept themselves removed from the Projects—but somehow they always dropped their guard around Orange and answered his questions.

“How do you get them to like you?” Black asks, once the food is gone. He still feels exhausted and weak. He has spent the majority of his life wishing he was a more successful Project like Blue or Purple. He wished he had the power to stand up to the scientists, or at least please them. Now, he wished they would just _like_ him, like they liked Orange.

Orange shrugged. “I don’t know, I just talk to them, I guess?”

But Orange is an anomaly. He smiles and laughs and runs around with incredibly energy. It’s hard not to like Orange. Black could never be like him.

“And I like ‘em,” Orange says, nodding his head in agreement with his own statement. “I think they’re nice.”

Black shook his head. “I do not understand you, Orange.”

Orange leaned back on the balls of his feet. “You have the wrong perspective, Black. When I’m outside and I jump really, really high—it’s like I can see everything! There’s a whole world outside of Teiko! All you see is walls, but there’s so much more out there. And someday, I’m going to see it all!

“But yeah, the people here at Teiko—they’re kinda mean and terrible. But I think that’s because they’re walled in too. You’d feel more hope, if you could jump high enough. Does that make sense?”

“Absolutely not,” Black replied.

Orange laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m making myself real clear.”

“They’re going to scrap us, Orange.”

Orange shrugged again. “Maybe. They might not, though. I think—I think people are kinder than you know. And I think kindness is stronger in the long run.”

Black people didn’t understand what he meant. “Kindness” was a foreign concept—only Orange was kind. And people were kind back to him. But he didn’t understand what value kindness had in this place, or any place.

*

When they scrapped Orange, Black saw his body once before they took him away for dissection. Small and still and nothing.

He screamed and he screamed and he screamed. His body was on fire from shock after shock but still he screamed.

Until Red came up to him glowing and Ordered, “Stop yelling. You will feel nothing, show nothing. You have no emotions.”

And Black stopped screaming. He stopped feeling.

And he started planning.

*

Leave Teiko behind, he told himself, over and over again.

Turn away from fear. Be kind. He learned to make friends. He learned to talk to humans.

Even if the others didn’t understand kindness, Kuroko did. He understood that in their own way, they had tried to save him. Although they eventually left him behind, Kuroko remembered their initial kindness and he chose to include them in his escape plan.

There was kindness there. And because he believed there was kindness in the other Miracles (deep, deep down; destroyed by Teiko; but there) Kuroko chose to stay with them. He believed in the day when they would find kindness in their lives again.

Even when the others chased Ogiwara away, still Kuroko stayed with them.

“The humans will always leave you,” Akashi had said, after he’d driven away Ogiwara. “You cannot trust them. You cannot love them.”

Akashi and the others didn’t understand. Kuroko didn’t want to love something he will only lose. He only wanted to be kind and to trust that Orange was right.

He tried to explain it once, to Aomine, as the others listened in. He thought maybe Aomine would understand. “Orange liked humans. If Orange was still alive, he would want to live among them.”

“Orange is dead,” Aomine said brutally. “Because he was weak. His kindness got him killed.”

Kuroko willed himself not to react. “His kindness was not a weakness.”

“What?” Aomine said, like he wasn’t really listening.

“Orange’s kindness was not a weakness,” he said again, louder. “His way of living was better than ours. Humans will either fear us or love us. It is far better for them to love us.”

Kuroko had read _The Prince,_ even if he didn’t agree with it. Aomine had not read it, but it was clear what he would have believed.

“They’re never going to love us,” Aomine said. “So it’s better that they fear us.”

“I do not accept that.” It was hard to stand firm in his convictions when Ogiwara left and never once looked back. “I believe in humans. They are kinder than you know.”

Because Orange would have believed in them. So Kuroko will. He believed in their kindness, and in their love. And he hoped one day he’ll meet someone who won’t back down from the Miracles. Someone who won’t be afraid. One day he’ll meet someone who will fight by his side.

*

He flies into the table and Nash kicks him when he’s on the ground.

Nash pulls him up. “You’re just too fucking dumb to let live.”

Kuroko braces himself for more pain, but Nash drops him and pulls back instead, avoiding Kagami’s fist.

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko says.

_You. I was waiting for you._

But he can’t spend too much time marveling at Kagami’s sudden appearance now. Instead, he grabs Kagami by the hand and pulls him away.

As soon as they’re in the next room, he glows black. He presses up against Kagami, pushing him to the wall and covers his mouth with Kagami starts to say, “Ku—”

Nash bursts out of the room, followed by Jason Silver. They look wildly around, walk right past Kuroko and Kagami, and then both of them frown in confusion. Kuroko can see the moment they forget what they were looking for. They order more drinks and go back in the room.

Kuroko pulls Kagami away, with the memory of the warmth of his body against his.

*

 

“You’re such an idiot, what were you thinking?” Kagami’s hands hover over his face, and he peers intently at Kuroko, checking his wounds.

“I only wanted to talk to them,” Kuroko says. The fact that Kagami isn’t touching him affects him almost as much as if he were.

“And? Did you find out what you needed to know?”

“They wish to rule the world,” Kuroko says. “Or destroy it while trying.”

Kagami snorts. “So it is comic book stuff. Crazy.”

“Kagami-kun does not sound very concerned.”

“Well, we’re going to stop them, aren’t we?” Kagami says this easily, with as much confidence as when he declared they were going to win the Winter Cup. Whether or not it’s playing basketball or saving the world, it’s all the same to Kagami.

“Yes. We will,” Kuroko says.

Playing basketball, saving the world. It’s all the same to Kuroko too, as long as Kagami is by his side.

 _I wish I could have shown this world to you,_ _Orange_ _,_ he thinks. _It is kind, just like you said._


	12. Chapter 12

After bringing Mizuki and Ren home and making sure they were safe, Kasamatsu realizes his life has become infinitely more complicated. He feels ridiculous, considering all the things going on right now. But somehow, despite serial killers threatening his brothers, stopping Kise from murdering someone and knowing Aomine probably did murder someone, the weirdest most relevant thing that happened to Kasamatsu this day is the fact that he now has a boyfriend.

That he lives with.

“We can’t live together,” Kasamatsu blurts out.

“What?” Kise exclaims. “Why?”

“We’re dating now,” Kasamatsu says, blushing.

“Yes? And?”

“We’re dating, and we live together. In the same house, in the same room. Your bed is across from my bed. We’re with each other all the time.”

“You’re listing all the great things about our situation, Senpai. I’m not sure why you’re upset.”

“Because,” Kasamatsu says. And that’s all he has so he stops talking.

Kise sits on his bed and watches him with heavy, intent-filled eyes. Kise stares at him like he’s the only thing in the world that matters and Kasamatsu can’t believe he never noticed that before.

“I’ve wanted you for so long, Senpai. And I never once crossed the line, I promise. I didn’t molest you in your sleep before and I’m not going to start now—”

“That’s not why!” Kasamatsu says, scandalized. “I’ve never been in a relationship before, idiot! I don’t even know how to _date_ someone, and now we’re living together. It’s just— _complicated,_ OK? I don’t know how to do this.”

“I don’t know how to do this, either,” Kise says. He holds out his hands and takes Kasamatsu’s hands in his, pulling him forward. “But I want this. Please, Senpai? I know you’re applying for colleges in Tokyo. Let’s just—have this. While we can.”

He’s heard Kise whine and beg and cry, all with the fake overtones that grate on his ears and make him want to kick the First Year. But Kise now sounds earnest and pleading and Kasamatsu has the terrifying thought that he would agree to anything Kise asks for when he sounds like that.

Kise looks at him like he expects Kasamatsu to say “no.” That’s how he keeps looking at him, ever since they left the warehouse. He expects to be denied, to be rejected. He still doesn’t believe Kasamatsu wants him. (Doesn’t believe _Kasamatsu_ wants _him_.)

Kasamatsu squeezes Kise’s hands. “Idiot. I like you. Why don’t you believe me?”

Kise flinches and looks away, like he’s afraid of meeting Kasamatsu’s gaze. He doesn’t let go of his hands, though.

“I’ve loved you for so long. I would have seen it, if you had reciprocated,” Kise whispers, confirming Kasamatsu’s hunch.

He wants to hit Kise over the head, but that would mean letting go, and he doesn’t want to do that. (He should probably hit Kise less now, anyway. Now that they’re dating.)

“Sometimes it’s hard to see the obvious thing. I didn’t know _you_ liked me.”

“That’s different,” Kise says.

“ _How?”_

Kise falls silent, and Kasamatsu thinks about all the people who said, “You wouldn’t have been so oblivious if you reciprocated” and it’s a dumb hypothesis, but he remembers what Takao had said so he clears his throat and says, “It’s not that I didn’t like you. I just never realized you liked me because I didn’t think it was possible.”

If anything, this statement worsens the situation, as Kise falters and looks up at Kasamatsu like he’s just been gutted. “But you were the first one to say it, Senpai. You said we could love.”

It takes Kasamatsu a few seconds to figure out what the hell Kise means and then he does hit him over the head. “I meant I didn’t think it was possible for you to love _me!_ God, Kise. Look at me!”

Kise smiles and takes Kasamatsu’s invitation with a slow leer and a gaze that speaks of hidden filthy desires. “I _am_ looking at you.”

“OK, stop looking at me like that,” Kasamatsu says, blushing furiously. He never understood the expression “he undressed him with his eyes” until right now. “I’m just saying, I’m not the kind of guy _anyone_ falls for. I’m not exactly attractive.”

Kise gapes at him. “Are you kidding me?”

“It’s not like there have been people lining up to confess!” Kasamatsu says defensively. “I’m eighteen years old, for God’s sake, and no one’s ever been interested in me. If you look at it that way, how was I supposed to think _you_ would ever be interested?”

Kise continues to gape. “Oh, man. Senpai, I’m sorry, I apparently did way too thorough of a job.”

“What?”

“Sixteen people, Senpai. _Sixteen_ this year alone! I had to chase away eleven girls and five boys who tried to confess to you. That is not even including the love letters I failed to deliver, or the people I scared away with my glare. My God, Senpai. It’s been a full time job keeping people away from you.”

Now it’s Kasamatsu’s turn to gape.

He should be angry. He probably will be, later. But right now, Kise’s smiling up at him and snaking an arm around his waist and then they’re kissing in that way that leaves him breathless and slightly terrified.

“Wait, we need rules,” Kasamatsu says, pulling away. “If we’re going to continue to live together and date, we need boundaries!”

Kise groans. “Must we?”

“Yes,” Kasamatsu says firmly. “No sex in the house.”

“What?!” Kise yelps.

“ _Especially_ not when Ren or Mizuki or my father are home. Or when they could come home. Or just—ever in this house.”

“But—making out?” Kise whimpers. “We can make out, right? When the door is locked?”

Kasamatsu considers this for half a heartbeat. “Yeah, making out’s OK.”

*

When they emerge from the bedroom, Kasamatsu’s father is home. Youji takes one look at them and says, “You’re kidding—you’re finally dating?”

Kasamatsu blushes and sputters, “How did you know that?”

“You have a hickey. Great job, Ryouta! Way to play a long game!”

Youji gives Kise a fist bump as Kasamatsu slaps a hand on his neck.

“Did you just fist bump my boyfriend for—Jesus Christ.” This is the most mortified he has ever been.

“Yukio, you can’t blame me for being happy for Ryouta! He’s wanted to hit that for a long time now.”

“ _He still has not hit that,”_ Kasamatsu snarls.

“Really?” Youji says.

“Senpai thinks we should wait,” Kise says, forlorn.

“Ah,” Youji says sagely. “He takes after his mother. Hinami was the same way.”

No. Correction. _This_ is the most mortified he has ever been.

“You should not be encouraging underage teens,” Kasamatsu hisses.

“Yukio, I was young once,” Youji chides.

“I hate you so much sometimes,” Kasamatsu says.

*

Dinner is excruciating, for many reasons. His father keeps making inappropriate innuendoes that Kise eggs on, and even Mizuki and Ren chime in. Kasamatsu decides the only thing he can do in this situation is ignore everyone.

His younger brothers go to bed early. Kise looks like he’s waiting for Kasamatsu to come with him to their room, but he keeps nodding off and eventually Kasamatsu badgers him into going to sleep without him.

He’s been the responsible one in his family for a long time now, and he knows when his father wants to talk to him. He finishes cleaning up the kitchen while his father flips through the television channels.

When Kasamatsu joins his father in the living room, Youji turns the TV off.

“So you and Ryouta, huh?”

Kasamatsu rolls his eyes. “Don’t act so surprised. Apparently the whole world knew about his feelings.”

“His and yours,” Youji says cheerfully. “You two have been dancing around each other since you were sixteen.”

“We have not!” Kasamatsu says hotly.

“Sure, sure. I’m happy for you.”

Kasamatsu knows that no matter what, his father will be on his side. He thinks he’s lucky his Dad is so accepting—the awkward situation would be so much worse without his family’s easy and unconditional approval.

And yet Kasamatsu still feels tense and uneasy sitting next to his father.

“This isn’t what you want to talk about,” his ventures.

His father lets out a long sigh. “Yukio, I know I don’t tell you this often enough, but I am sorry you’ve always had to be so responsible. I sometimes think I’ve put too much on you, and I wish I could spare you.”

This is more uncomfortable than when his family was teasing him about his love life.

“I’ve never resented it,” Kasamatsu says gruffly.

Youji gives him a weak smile. “I know I’m the luckiest of fathers.”

“So what is it?”

His father sighs again. He looks so old. “The media has been hosting a lot of anti-Miracle sentiments lately. There have been a lot of accusations thrown around about how the JSDF chose to handle things. There’s a good chance a special Diet might be called, and I’ll have to defend to the world why the JSDF harbored child assassins and let them go to high school.”

For once, Kasamatsu does not immediately start shouting. This is, in fact, something he’s been afraid of for some time now. Even before Gold started his anti-Miracle campaign. Pretty much ever since his father sat him down in this very room and explained what Teiko was doing.

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” Kasamatsu says fiercely. “And I’ll back you, one hundred percent of the way. If the world turns against us, fine.”

Youji looks like he wants to hug his son but doesn’t know how. Instead, he just says in a thick voice, “I really am a lucky father. But Yukio, it’s not just me they’ll attack. They might put the Miracles under question, put them in the spotlight. You need to make sure Kise’s prepared for that kind of scrutiny. And it might come out that you’re dating him—I just want you to be prepared for that possibility.”

“I’m prepared,” Kasamatsu says levelly. “I’m willing to fight for my family. No matter what.”

Youji nods, like he expected this.

There’s probably a million more things that could be said, that need to be said, but they sit in silence for a long time.      

*

After the Karaoke meeting, Takao keeps looking at Midorima, and Midorima keeps refusing to meet his gaze.

Fed up with the elephant in the room, Takao finally says, “It was wrong of Kuroko to out you like that. I’d punch the guy, if I didn’t think I’d be immediately murdered by a combination attack from Kagami, Aomine and Momoi.”

Midorima adjust his glasses and _still doesn’t look at Takao._ “He was right; there is no point in trying to hide the fact. And I wasn’t hiding it.”

_Bullshit!_ Takao wants to yell. Because Midorima never _once_ gave any indication about his sexual preferences and he’s clearly uncomfortable now. Takao had certainly given him plenty of opportunities to mention his dating preferences. And sure, he’d joked about Midorima being in love with Kuroko, was even pretty sure it was true at one point, but at Midorima’s outrage at the suggestion, Takao had assumed at least part of that was because his heterosexual dignity had been offended.

And even now, he defends Kuroko. It makes Takao want to scream.

“Look, he had no business sharing information about you with everyone like that. It’s nobody’s business but yours where your sexual preferences lie—”

“That’s just the point, it’s _not_ just my business, it’s not personal at all,” Midorima says angrily. He finally looks at Takao. “Don’t you get it? I’m not ashamed about my preferences, I’m _embarrassed._ You have no idea what it was like—we were thirteen when Momoi showed us the Teiko files she had recovered. I was thirteen and I hadn’t even begun to think about sex in a real way and yet there was this file telling me that I was designed to be sexually attracted to men. Those files had everything—how tall we would be, our expected adult weights, our physical limits. They had the proposed breeding plans they would have implemented as well as notes about which projects we were likely to find sexual gratification with in between breeding programs. Those were awkward days, at the JSDF base.”

“I bet,” Takao says, still slightly hung up on the fact that Midorima hadn’t been thinking about sex when he was thirteen. Takao’s pretty sure that’s all he was thinking about when he was that age.

“It was—incredibly difficult to face our own designs. That’s why I don’t like talking about it. It’s not—not the attraction to the same sex that was the problem,” Midorima stumbles over the words, “in many ways, it was worse for Aomine and Momoi, who knew that they had been specifically designed to find _each other_ appealing. It’s just that—anytime I think about dating a man, I’m reminded that I am nothing more than my design.”

Takao tries to imagine how Midorima must feel. “Shin-chan, I don’t think anyone chooses their sexuality. Just because there weren’t scientists deciding I’d be gay when I was born doesn’t make me any less gay.”

Midorima doesn’t look convinced. Takao realizes that this is not the problem at all; he’s saying the wrong thing entirely. Because maybe no one ever has a choice, but someone had chosen _for_ Midorima. And that was the problem. Midorima came with a design, a blueprint; something he had seen as an adolescent and felt only inevitability. It made his obsession with “fate” seem almost sad.

Takao presses on, “And besides, just because they picked the gender you’d fall for, it’s not like they determined _who’d_ you like. I mean, I like guys, right? But it’s not like I like _all_ guys. I have a specific type, you know. The same goes for you, I’m sure.”

Midorima mulls this over. “Yes. I suppose you have a point,” he acknowledges. “My ‘type’ seems to be very specific as well. I doubt Teiko would have took the effort to design that.”

“Right?” Takao says, generously deciding that he would focus on making Midorima feel better and not give in to his own desires to badger Midorima relentless about what that specific type is. He can always satisfy his curiosity later.

“Thank you,” Midorima says, looking away again. He still seems embarrassed. “But that wasn’t the only thing that was bothering me.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t like the fact that everyone is ignoring the threat 7284 poses. I _do_ understand Nash’s plan could hurt us worse in the long run, but that doesn’t change the fact that it won’t matter _what_ Nash does to our reputation if 7284 kills the ones closest to us.”

Takao, as the only one who has actually met 7284, is inclined to agree with Midorima. 7284 is one scary motherfucker and Takao would sleep a lot better knowing he wasn’t around.

He knows the Miracles are facing a much larger threat. And Takao isn’t ignorant of the bigger picture. If the world turns against the Miracles, it’s not just Midorima who will be caught in the fire. All of Shutoku will, the basketball club will, Takao’s _mother_ will. Nobuko Takao is a nurse who works for the JSDF, there’s no way she won’t be caught in the crossfire.

But Takao has fading bruises on his arm that speak to other dangers.

“I have been thinking about that,” Takao ventures. “And I have an idea, although you’re probably not going to like it.”

“Absolutely not,” Midorima says immediately.

“I haven’t even told you my plan yet!”

“You were going to suggest posing as bait,” Midorima says.

“Well—yes. Fine. At least hear me out, OK? You work best from afar anyway, right? So if I just make it look like I’m alone, he might approach me again like last time. Doesn’t that make the most sense? Instead of just waiting around for him to make a move?”

In a very small corner of Takao’s mind is a tiny voice that says, “You are planning to murder someone. You have sat around and thought about _how to help murder_ someone. This is your life, Kazunari, look at your life choices. Just how far are you going to help Midorima? Are you going to help dispose of the body with your rickshaw, too?”

But Takao tells that tiny voice to shut the hell up. It’s way too late now to start doubting his choices.

“Unacceptable,” Midorima says after dutifully hearing Takao out.

“Do you have a better plan?” Takao exclaims.

“That doesn’t matter,” Midorima insists. And then his voice softens. “Takao—thank you. It—means a lot, that you are on my side. But—there’s too much risk. I can’t risk—” Midorima breaks off and looks away. “There are just too many things that could go wrong. We’ll think of something else.”

Takao wants to argue more because damn it, it’s the _only_ plan that makes sense.

But Midorima had said “we” and that makes him feel better.  
*

“I need to sleep in my own bed,” Takao says. “I can’t just live with you from now on.”

“Then I’ll stay at your house,” Midorima says stubbornly.

“You can’t follow me everywhere,” Takao says, nearing exasperation. It _is_ touching—Midorima’s concern. But it’s also a little condescending and suffocating.

They’re approaching Midorima’s house so Takao can retrieve a few things he left. He has the sneaking suspicion that Midorima is going to try and keep him there. He’s _pretty sure_ Dr. Kishitani and Naoko will stop Midorima from actually locking him up, but he’s not putting it past Midorima to try anyway.

“Takao, you aren’t being—”

Midorima’s voice dies as his house comes into view. There are a dozen cop cars in front of it, and Midorima looks like someone’s just ripped out his heart.

He takes off running, Takao just a beat behind him.

But when the cops see Midorima they pull out their guns and point them at him.

“Midorima Shintarou?” one cop says.

Midorima stops, his fingers twitching. Takao’s heart beats frantically as he looks from gun to gun to gun.

“You are under arrest for the Slasher killings.”

Midorima stills. He measures them, like he hasn’t made up his mind on if he should send them flying or not.

“I have already told you Shintarou-kun had nothing to do with those deaths,” Dr. Kishitani says, emerging from his house, a frightened Naoko at his side.

Takao sees Midorima relax. Takao knows Midorima’s relieved, hell, _he’s_ relieved—his first thought was that something must have happened to Dr. Kishitani or Naoko when he saw all those cop cars.

But now is not the time to relax.

“We need to bring you in,” the cop says, ignoring Dr. Kishitani and fixing his gaze on Midorima. No one has lowered their gun.

Takao steps in front of Midorima, “He’s not the killer! He’s with me _all_ the time, I’m his alibi for at least half those murders, I can—”

“Takao,” Midorima silences him by placing his hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright. I’ll go with you. I am confident I can prove my innocence.”

“You’re not taking him without me. I’m his guardian,” Dr. Kishitani says. “Kazunari-kun, will you please stay with Naoko? I’ll call your mother later.”

“Sure, of course,” Takao stammers, when really he wants to yell the same thing Dr. Kishitani did: _You’re not taking him without me._

But instead he watches Midorima obediently climb into the back of a police car, and Dr. Kishitani get into another. One by one the cars pull away, taking Midorima further and further away from Takao.

He looks down when a cold small hand grabs his. Naoko looks up at him with tears in her eyes. “They said they had a video of Onii-sama killing someone. But Onii-sama wouldn’t kill anyone, I know he wouldn’t!”

“Of course not,” Takao lies with forced cheer. Midorima would absolutely kill someone; they’d been plotting murder together just a few minutes ago. But that is not the point. “This is all just some misunderstanding. Your brother will be home before you know it. Let’s go inside, I’m going to call my mom. She and Ayumi can come here, won’t that be fun?”

Naoko nods her head bravely and rubs her eyes. Takao squeezes her hand and wishes someone would tell _him_ everything was going to be alright.

*

His mother takes over immediately, and the two girls play in Naoko’s bedroom as she makes dinner.

Takao sits in Midorima’s bedroom, and wishes the seconds wouldn’t pass so slowly.

He sits on Midorima’s bed, and in his lap is an old box. He wants to bring it to Midorima, thinking it might make Midorima feel better. What if they imprison him? He would never have a lucky item again. He’d go mad.

Takao opens the box, just to reassure himself that Midorima’s precious items are still there.

And then he stares.

He stares at it for a long time.

*

He’d found the box when he was staying over. It had been tucked under Midorima’s bed, and he’d pulled it out without thinking.

“Oh ho? What’s this, Shin-chan? Your porn collection? Kinky sex toys?”

The box went flying out of Takao’s hands and into Midorima’s. Midorima clutched the box, looking embarrassed, and Takao wondered if maybe he _had_ found Midorima’s secret porn stash.

“This is personal,” Midorima said.

“Oooh. I bet. Man, you don’t need to be so shy! Every guy has one. You shouldn’t hide it under the bed, though, that’s a rookie mistake. It’s the first place everyone looks. All my porn’s on my computer, so—”

“It’s not like that!” Midorima said hotly. Then he huffed and opened the box. He kept it angled away from Takao, so he still couldn’t see inside.

“They’re former lucky items,” Midorima said stiffly.

Takao tilted his head because Midorima’s whole room is full of former lucky items. “What makes them so special?”

“They’re the lucky items I had on days when… something particularly good happened to me. Significant days.” He held up a small orange stapler, the kind that fits easily in a pocket. “This was my first lucky item.” Midorima lowered his eyes. “I told you the Green Sevens either had power or precision, yes?”

“Yes. You had power and then developed precision,” Takao recited, just to prove that he was paying attention.

Midorima nodded. “At first I couldn’t control it, couldn’t aim—I could lift up a tank but I couldn’t move it to where I wanted it to go. 7282 had already proved he was promising, and 7284 was working on developing more power. I thought I was going to be scrapped.

“Then one of the scientists—I don’t know his name, we never knew their names—he told me I was a Cancer, and that today was a lucky day for Cancers. He gave me the stapler and said I would be able to aim if I had my lucky item. And it worked.

“I know it’s dumb. I know people call me superstitious. But, I can’t help but feel like it _did_ work. As long as I have my lucky items, I can control my power. And I won’t be scrapped.”

Takao’s eyes widened at the confession. Midorima seemed so vulnerable, like that day when he hid under the desk. And Jesus, no wonder. He was still convinced he would be killed if he didn’t prove himself to be a Successful Project.

“It’s the only thing I have left of Teiko. It’s the only thing I wanted to bring with me,” Midorima said. He held up a metal whistle on a cord. “And this. This was my lucky item the day we escaped. I wore it when we ran, and I kept it on even when the day had passed.”

He picked up a small Pink plastic bow hairclip. “This was my lucky item the day I came to live with the Kishitanis. Naoko-chan gave it to me.”

He placed the items back in his box and closed the lid, holding it tightly to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Takao said, aware that he had trespassed on something sacred.

Midorima shook his head. “I don’t mind telling you. You… never laughed at my lucky items. I wanted you to know.”

Takao had the ridiculous urge to wrap his arms around Midorima and kiss him. He wrapped his arms around himself instead and changed the subject.

*

The box contains all the items Midorima had showed him. The orange stapler, the whistle, the pink hairclip.

But it also has a small Tokyo-themed snow globe inside.

Takao picks up the snow globe.

_They’re the lucky items I had on days when something particularly good happened to me._

But that had been a wretched day for Midorima. He’d had his first snow globe taken from him, bullied by the Judo Club. He’d been left a crying mess in a classroom.

He’d met Takao.

Takao swallows thickly, and then wipes at his eyes. He puts the snow globe back in the box and closes the lid.

_Stupid Shin-chan!_ He thinks. _Stupid! Stupid!_

*

Dr. Kishitani comes home late. Ayumi and Naoko are asleep and Takao lies in the dark of Midorima’s bedroom, and pretends. Dr. Kishitani and his mother talk in the kitchen, not knowing that Takao can hear them.

“Ryohei-san, is everything—”

Dr. Kishitani sighs. “They have a video of the Slasher. He looks a lot like Shintarou. Shintarou explained there were other Projects that looked like him and the JSDF had been able to support that claim with some of the files they recovered from Teiko, but they want to keep Shintarou  over night just in case.”

“No…” Takao’s mother gasps. “Poor Shintarou-kun.”

“Those idiots!” Dr. Kishitani’s hand slams against the table. “Don’t they realize no cell could hold Shintarou unless he _let_ it? They are going to destroy that boy, and he’s worked so hard—!”

“The media has really gone crazy, lately,” Nobuko says sadly. “I know maybe it was inevitable, considering… I just really wanted them to have the chance at a normal life.”

His mom knows, Takao realizes with a sort of awed horror. She knew all along what the Miracles had been designed for.

“He has such a keen mind! And with his abilities—he could be the best damn surgeon the world has ever known! He could revolutionize the medical field—it drives me so crazy sometimes, when I think about those idiots at Teiko did. The best minds of our generation—the things they could have done! They could have bettered mankind, and all they could fixate on was how to make a better killer.”

“Ryohei-san…”

“Forgive me, Nobuko-san. I’m just tired and worried. I—I named him, you know? ‘Shintarou’ is what Mina and I were going to name a boy, if we’d ever had a son…”

Takao hears the muffled sounds of a grown man crying. He peeks out the door and sees his mother holding Dr. Kishitani and stroking his hair. Takao raises his brows, and wonders how Midorima will feel if they become stepbrothers. It would certainly make Ayumi and Naoko happy.

He creeps back to his sleeping position. He lies in the dark and makes a decision.

*

He sneaks out the window and goes back to his house. There, he makes preparations. He makes one phone call.

“I’m about to do something stupid and reckless,” he says by way of greeting. “I wanted you for back up. If you don’t come, I’m doing it anyway.”

*

He tarts himself up like the world’s classiest boy hooker. It’s a bit embarrassing that he has most of the outfit already (it was a Halloween costume his mother never let him wear.)

He’s wearing black fishnet stockings and knee high boots and shorts that would have been too short on him when he was in elementary school. He puts on a tight green shirt that _was_ something he wore in elementary school, and now ends above his belly button with cloth so thin it leaves little to the imagination. He wears pale green eyeshadow and pearly pink lipstick he steals from his mother.

And then he goes back to the bar he’d met 7284 in and orders a drink. He must look incredibly confident, because no one cards him, and he tosses the cocktail back like he’s drinking soda.

He has no idea this will work. That 7284 will even be around today. But it doesn’t matter, he’s desperate, so very desperate, and if he does nothing he will go mad.

If nothing happens tonight, he’ll just come back tomorrow. Again and again, if he has to.

He gets hit on _a lot._ It’s almost flattering, how many middle aged dudes want to be his sugar daddy. Takao files this information away as “Good to Know I Have a Backup Life Plan Should I Ever Hit Rock Bottom.”

He laughs and flirts and teases with an easy grace that surprises even him. Anyone watching might think he’s been reeling in johns for years. He doesn’t even think about all the other dangers his incredibly stupid plan had until one man starts to get really aggressive with his demands to bring Takao back home with him. The man is tugging on Takao’s arm and leaning in close.

Then suddenly Takao is pulled back, someone’s arm around his waist in a possessive hold.

“He’s been waiting for me,” his rescuer says, “Weren’t you?”

Takao shudders against the hold, and he smiles into the unfamiliar familiar face of Green 7284. “Yes, that’s right. I was waiting for you.”

Even the drunk handsy salaryman backs away at the sight of 7284. Midorima’s twin is a predator that even other dangerous beasts don’t dare cross.

7284 pulls Takao away into a secluded booth. It’s the kind men and their chosen companions for the night sit at when they want to be alone. 7284 positions Takao to the wall and slides next to him, trapping him in place.

“Was this for my benefit?” he says, raking his eyes over Takao’s body. His gaze lingers, and Takao feels very naked. “It was hardly necessary, although I do appreciate it. I liked you well enough in your normal clothes.”

“I wanted to make sure I caught your attention,” Takao says.

“And so you have it. As well as everyone else’s in the room. I don’t like that, Kazunari. I don’t share what’s mine. The next time you dress like this, it will only be for me.”

Holy fuck, Takao thinks. He’s in way over his head and he knows this. Takao has never heard a more ominous “next time.”

He forces himself to remain calm. He raises a brow and says, “But I’m not yours.”

7284 smiles slowly. “No?”

Takao sticks out his chin. “You know I’m not.”

7284 laughs. “Because you belong to 7283, is that right?” He strokes Takao’s cheek. “Is that why you’re here with me? For his sake?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Takao spots a waiter. He smiles in what he hopes is a seductive way and says, “I just wanted to talk to you again. Aren’t you going to buy me a drink this time?”

7284 has the same expression a snake might wear as it watches a mouse. Like he’s not hungry enough to strike just yet, but has the confidence he will be able to feast when he feels like it. He orders two cocktails.

“So what do I call you, anyway?” Takao asks. “You never told me your name.”

“Names are for those who play human,” 7284 says. “But you can call me ‘Midorima’ if that would make you happy. Midorima Kotarou.”

“So…Kota-chan, is it?” Takao ventures.

Kotarou smiles. “If you would like.” He sounds pleased.

Their drinks arrive and Takao drinks half of his right then and there. He’s starting to feel a little tipsy. Kotarou swallows his in leisurely gulps and never takes his eyes off Takao.

“And?” He prompts. “What brings you to see me, Kazunari? Looking so delicious. Are you going to offer yourself to me? In exchange for leaving _him_ alone?”

“Would that work?” Takao asks curiously.

“No. I’m going to take you anyway. And I’m going to destroy him. These two things will happen no matter what.” He sounds so confident. Takao wishes he knew if Kotarou meant to fuck him or kill him.

“So you don’t actually want me,” Takao says, feigning disappointment. “You just want me because I’m Shin-chan’s friend.”

Kotarou laughs—a sound that startles Takao because he’s never heard Midorima laugh, not once. Kotarou’s hand is in Takao’s lap, stroking his thigh. It’s very distracting.

“Friend? Don’t sell yourself so short. Aniki wants you, badly. And I would have destroyed anything Aniki wanted. But, unfortunately, my big brother and I have very similar tastes. The original plan was to kill you and leave your body in his bed for him to find. But I really do like you, Kazunari. I will make you mine instead.”

It speaks to something deeply disturbing in Takao’s psyche that he’s actually a little turned on right now. The hand on his thigh, stroking skillfully, the weight of his body as he leans in, his voice. Except for the utterly insane look in his eyes, it would be hard not to see Midorima in this situation.

It’s like Kotarou can follow his thoughts. “He won’t ever touch you, you know.”

“What?” Takao says in a daze.

“Aniki. He won’t touch you, not ever. Did he ever tell you how the Green Sevens are raised?” Takao shakes his head, fascinated despite himself.

“Five Green Sevens are made in a batch. And from birth we are kept entirely isolated form human touch. When we are old enough to think for ourselves, they handcuff us, pin us to chairs. If we want to eat, we must move the silverware with our minds. 7285 and 7281 didn’t make it—we watched them starve slowly in front of us because they couldn’t maneuver the forks well enough. And then everything we do, it must be with our minds. Feeding, dressing, brushing our teeth. No one is allowed to touch us for the first seven years of our lives. We’re not allowed to touch anyone, or anything.”

“How cruel…” Takao whispers.

_“Don’t touch me!”_ the child Midorima had yelled, pushing Takao away. It had been a scarring moment for young Takao. It was already a scar for young Midorima.

“So he won’t ever give you what you need. Even if he wants to, he’ll never be able to satisfy you.”

“But you can?” Takao challenges. “Why are _you_ so different?”

“Because I decided I like being close. I like touching, the feel of someone beneath you. It’s something you miss out on, when you only work from a distance.” Takao gets the feeling they’re not talking about sex anymore. “So you should pick me, Kazunari. I would take good care of you, do things to you Aniki can’t even imagine. We will have such fun, you and I.”

Takao shivers. “Sorry. It’s always been Shin-chan for me. It always will be.”

Midorima was the first person he was ever really sexually attracted to, the first person he ever fell in love with, the first person Takao ever wanted to stay be his side.

He doesn’t quite believe in Oha Asa, but his destiny is entwined with Midorima’s. He’s never been so sure of anything else in his life.

Kotarou’s face twists into something ugly, and he grips Takao’s thigh painfully. “You’ll pick me, you won’t have a choice, you—” he stops. The grip starts to loosen. “You—what did you do?”

Takao ducks under the table as Kotarou lunges ungracefully for him. He crawls on the dirty floor and pops out from the other side.

Kotarou is hunched over. Everything on the table starts to rattle, but the objects just tip over and fall. Kotarou looks at Takao with revenge in his eyes and then he passes out.

“Jesus fuck, Kuroko. That took way too long!” Takao whines.

“My apologies,” Kuroko says from beside him, wearing a waiter’s uniform. “If Takao-kun wanted a faster assassin, you should have called Aomine-kun.”

“He’s dead?” Takao yelps.

“Do not be ridiculous. He is asleep. The drug will knock him out for hours.”

“How do you even have a drug like that? And where’d you get the waiter’s uniform?”

Kuroko gives him a baleful look. “This is what I was trained to do, Takao-kun. I was never a particularly deadly assassin, but I provided plenty of assistance.”

Takao shivers. All things considered, he has no doubt Kuroko would be a terrifyingly good assassin, if he put his mind to it.

Kagami emerges from his corner of the room. He’s blushing and looking everywhere but Takao. “I called the cops with an anonymous tip. They should be here any moment now. You, uh, should probably go? Or, uh. Change?”

Takao spits out a laugh. “Oh, man, Kagami! You’re adorable!”

“Takao-kun is very good at the honeypot trap,” Kuroko says politely. “I am impressed by this unexpected skill.”

“Don’t you forget it,” Takao says. “I can’t believe you called Kagami for backup.”

“I was at his house when you called.”  
Takao waggles his eyebrows. “Oh, _were_ you?”

“Murasakibara-kun and Himuro-san are also here, in the bar next door. They were to provide assistance should 7284 try to flee,” Kuroko says, ignoring Takao’s insinuations. “But Kagami-kun is correct. It is best that you and I depart for now, Takao-kun.”

“Me and Tatsuya will watch over this guy until the cops show up,” Kagami says.

Takao sends one last glance at Midorima’s twin and nods. He follows Kuroko out the door.

*

The next day there’s no school, and Takao spends the day playing video games with Ayumi and Naoko. He avoids the News, Internet, and his cellphone.

His mother comes home with a worried look, but she doesn’t say anything. At seven, Dr. Kishitani comes to pick up Naoko, with Midorima in tow.

Takao greets him with cheer and masked relief. Midorima _looks_ at Takao with a gaze so loaded Takao feels like he’s been marked for a sniper’s gun.  Naoko is busy having rapturous fits that “Onii-sama” has returned, so she’s providing ample distraction.

“Would you like some tea?” Nobuko offers.

“No, thank you. We should go home,” Dr. Kishitani says, sounding tired.

Midorima gives Takao one last “We need to talk” look before walking out the door.

*

“I’m glad you two are friends now,” Nobuko says innocently.

Takao rolls his eyes, because this is not the first time his mom has passive-aggressively been smug about his friendship with Midorima. “Yes, yes, you’re brilliant and I should listen to you in all things.”

“Yes. Yes you should,” she says.

“I’m glad they let him go,” Takao says off-hand, because it’d be weird if he didn’t mention it.

“Yes,” Nobuko says, looking concerned. “Have you seen the News?”

“Nope!” Takao says, cheerfully honest. “Did something happen?”

Nobuko looks at her son like she suspects that he’s lying about something, but for the life of her, she can’t figure out what. “They caught the real Slasher—it turns out he was another Miracle that looked exactly like Shintarou-kun. It’s all very distressing…”

And uneasiness descends. “What do you mean he _was_?”

“There was an incident in front of the police station, when they were bringing him in… one of the officers panicked and shot him.”

“ _What?”_ Takao exclaims, his first thought is, _Shin-chan, what did you do?_ But that can’t be, Midorima would have still been locked up at that point.

“Do you think he and Shintarou-kun were close? It must be like losing a brother…”

“No,” Takao says flatly, “I don’t think they were close.”

It’s too much of a coincidence, but it couldn’t have been Midorima.

Then who?

*

He doesn’t pick Midorima up for school the next morning. It’s not that he’s _avoiding_ the Miracle, it’s just there’s going to be a confrontation, he just knows it, and he’d rather prolong the experience.

But when he gets to school people are giving Midorima a wide berth and it bugs Takao so much he glares at everyone and talks loud when he slaps Midorima on the back and says, “So how’s our jailbird? What’s it like in the joint? Did you have to shiv someone?”

“Do not be absurd, Takao,” Midorima says.

Takao just laughs loudly. Out of the corner of his eye he sees people start to relax, and he calls a fellow classmate over, to make sure Midorima isn’t excluded.

*

The basketball club rallies around Midorima and the day passes in a way that’s almost normal.

“You don’t—have to do this,” Midorima says, when the Third Years surround them at lunch time.

“Shutoku looks after their own,” Otsubo says.

“I can’t believe people thought you were a serial killer. _You,_ ” Miyaji says.

“Did you know you had a twin?” Kimura asks.

Midorima pushes up his glasses. Takao cuts in with, “Miyaji-senpai, did you catch last night’s episode of _Love Live?_ ”

This successfully distracts everyone for the hour.

*

After practice it’s just him and Midorima and the looming inevitable.

“Kuroko,” Midorima starts out of no where. He pauses and then sighs. “Kuroko once said humans were kinder than we thought. It is infuriating sometimes, how he is always right.”

Takao thinks this is Midorima’s roundabout way of saying “thank you.” He looks around—there’s no one who could hear him but he lowers his voice anyway, figuring it was time they go this over with, “Did you kill 7284?”

“No. I suspect it was Gold.”

“Gold? I thought they were allies!”

“The Gold Ones didn’t have allies. Neither did the Green Sevens.”

“You’re a Green Seven,” Takao points out.

“I was always an anomaly.” Midorima clenches his fist and abruptly whirls on Takao. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Takao takes a step back, dumbfounded by Midorima’s outburst. He so rarely hears the Miracle swear. “Shin-chan? What are you talking about?”

“I am not an idiot, Takao. It is too much of a coincidence that 7284 was brought in. I would have figured it out even if Murasakibara and Kuroko _hadn’t_ told me.”

“Those snitches!” Takao says indignantly. He is going to have _words_ with Kuroko, Takao thought they were becoming bros!

“I demanded answers after I found _this_ on my phone.” Midorima shoves his phone in Takao’s face.

It has a picture of Takao in his hooker outfit. Takao’s mid laugh and surrounded by old dudes. There’s the very creepy caption of: _He looks lonely. I think I’ll keep him company._

“Kotarou had your phone number?” Is Takao’s brilliant response.

“ _Kotarou?_ ” Midorima sputters.

He must have snapped the picture right before he approached Takao.

“Could you, uh, maybe delete that?” Takao says, blushing. It was certainly one thing to slut himself up for the sake of Midorima’s freedom, but he really, _really_ , didn’t expect Midorima to ever _see_ him like that.

Midorima grips the phone so tightly his knuckles are white. Takao thinks the phone might break. “I was in a holding cell. The police confiscated my phone. I didn’t get this until they released me. Don’t you get it? I wouldn’t have gotten this in time, I would’ve— _Christ_ , Takao. It would have been too late.”

Midorima is shaking, looking pale and sick. Takao wants to grab him, hold him, reassure him. But that probably wouldn’t be relaxing for Midorima. “I had backup,” Takao defends.

“Kuroko!” Midorima shouts. “Of all the people you could have called, you called _Kuroko!_ The weakest, most useless—”

Takao raises a brow. “He got the job done. Aren’t _you_ the one always telling me not to underestimate him?”

Midorima slumps. “You shouldn’t have done that. You can’t imagine—if something happened to you, I couldn’t—” Midorima breaks off with a choke.

Takao swallows. The silence between them feels like a powder keg, one spark could make everything explode.

_Take a risk, Kazunari,_ he chides.

Lightly, he says, “You know, Shin-chan, you were the first guy I was ever attracted to.”

Midorima looks flustered. “Don’t—you don’t need to lie.”

“I’m not lying.”

“You told me you had a boyfriend in middle school,” Midorima reminds him.

“Yeah, I did,” Takao grimaces but pushes on. “I met you before that, though. You don’t remember, but we met at the JSDF base. I was one of the people in your group.”

“You—” Midorima says, sounding uncertain.

Takao smiles. “I suggested we play tag. And I fell on you—”

“That was _you?_ ” Midorima sputters.

“Yeah,” Takao laughs.

“You mean I’ve only ever liked one person?” Midorima thunders.

Takao inhales sharply. Surely that didn’t mean what it sounded like. “Shin-chan?”

Midorima blushes. “I—you—you didn’t come back. I was sorry. I—liked you.”

“You’re kidding,” Takao says. “You didn’t even recognize me!”

“I thought you looked similar. I didn’t—we were created in labs, for God’s sake. It took all of us a long time to understand that physical similarities meant blood relations. I—just assumed I had a very specific type.”

“Shin-chan,” Takao says, at a loss for words.

Midorima pulls away, looking unhappy and disgruntled, like a wet cat. “You must have guessed by now, and you can’t tell me 7284 didn’t say something. I don’t expect you to reciprocate, but please don’t tease me, I—”

“Shin-chan, you’re an idiot,” Takao says, right before grabbing his face and pulling him down for a kiss.

Midorima pulls back in shock almost instantly, and Takao curses himself.

“Sorry, I forgot, 7284—he said you don’t like being touched, right?”

Midorima scowls. Then his expression melts and he reaches out. His hand hovers next to Takao’s face and then stops. “No. Not usually. But you—were always an exception. You’re exceptional.”

Takao ducks his head, because he doesn’t trust the expression on his face right now.

Midorima takes his hand, like he’s proving to the world that he can. “You haven’t said it.”         

Takao resists the urge to roll his eyes. He was going to help the man kill someone for God’s sake, dressed up like a hooker to get the guy out of prison. Carted him around in a rickshaw every day, and bought him lucky items. He’s been saying it practically every day since he met the guy, it’s not his fault Midorima was just too dense to hear it.

“I like you, Shin-chan. A lot. I did then, I do now, I probably will years from now. Cancers and Scorpios are incredibly compatible, you know?”

Midorima looks smug. “Yes. I know.”

*

Himuro grew up reading comic books, admiring superheroes, and loathing his own mediocrity. It was, perhaps, why it was so easy to resent Kagami, to try and break all ties with the one person who had ever loved him unconditionally. Kagami didn’t have superpowers, but he clearly wasn’t your average human. He was one of those rare prodigies who was destined to excel at the sport Himuro loved.

When he moved back to Japan, met Murasakibara, watched the Miracles play basketball, fell in love with Murasakibara, his self-loathing began to melt away. Because maybe he _was_ just an average human being, maybe that’s all he was ever going to be, but if someone like Murasakibara could love him, then his life was pretty extraordinary.

Every day his admiration for the Miracles grew. Because they weren’t just people with superpowers, they were people who had suffered and fought for the right to live and be free. Even Kuroko, who he had been prepared to hate, proved himself to be the most incredible of them all. Admiring the Miracles seemed natural.

That’s why when he sees Takao fight so hard to help Midorima, Himuro is utterly dumbfounded. When Kuroko wakes them all up in the middle of the night and explains the plan, Himuro doesn’t know what to think.

For a High School First Year, Takao has a pretty impressive set of seduction skills. His outfit is a tad over the top, (Himuro can’t help but laugh at the costume. It looks a little like a boy playing dress up and he can’t help but think this is what the First Year assumed “slut” looked like. It’s adorable, really) but Takao laughs and smiles in a naturally charming way that is very alluring.

Himuro only gets to see him for a second before Murasakibara pulls him into the next bar. How they’re supposed to be proper back up if they’re not even in the same club is beyond him, but Murasakibara and Kuroko move like men on a mission and he doesn’t want to argue with them.

Kuroko is the one who brings down 7284, but it was Takao who had made it all possible. Takao who put himself in harm’s way, who made the plan, brought it to fruition. When Himuro sees Takao after it’s all over, the Shutoku First Year is still laughing, but he’s trembling slightly, like he knew how close he came to death.

It is, perhaps, the most impressive thing Himuro has ever seen. Takao is just a normal human, and he fought the way a normal human could.

It’s admirable as hell, and it gives Himuro something to think about.

*

He’s the only one who goes to the police station when they bring in 7284. He wants to watch from a distance, just to see it all play out.

He’s the only one who sees when 7284 wakes up. All the guns go flying in the air, pointing at the police. Humor’s eyes widen and he exclaims loudly—

But only a single bullet fires, hitting 7284 straight through the heart.

Himuro is the only one who sees the confused shooter’s eyes flash gold.

Himuro is the only one who sees Nash Gold Jr. standing off to the side, with a satisfied smirk on his face.

It becomes real for him then—the danger they’re all in.

He’s read too many comic books not to have some sense for how this is all going to turn out.

But maybe, just maybe, the solution can’t be found in comic books.

*

When Takao walks through the café door, closely followed by Kasamatsu, Kagami shoots Himuro an irritated look. “You didn’t want to catch up on our LA friends at all.”

“Well, no,” Himuro admits.      

“You could have just said it was going to be one of _those_ meetings,” Kagami grumbles.

“I didn’t want Kuroko to come.”

“Just us humans, eh?” Takao says as he sits down.

“Not human pets?” Himuro teases.

“I have officially upgraded to human boyfriend,” Takao announces gleefully.

“Congratulations,” Himuro says.

“Now that’s all of us. We should form a club!” Takao jokes.

“I’m not—” Kagami starts, then scowls.

“You’re not? No way! You guys are married as fuck,” Takao says.

Himuro, who has seen Kuroko and Kagami at home in their domestic bliss, agrees whole heartedly.

“We’re friends,” Kagami says defensively.

Himuro takes pity on his brother and changes the subject. “I’m glad you both could make it, I apologize for the short notice.”

“What’s this about anyway?” Kasamatsu asks. “And why couldn’t Kise come?”

Himuro takes a sip from his tea. He deliberately chose the same café all four of them had first met. He thought it would be poetic.

“I have a plan to take out Gold and Silver,” he says, getting straight to the point.

“And we’re not telling the Miracles this plan why, exactly?” Kasamatsu says suspiciously.

“Because we’re the only ones who can make it work,” Himuro says. “And I don’t think they’ll like it.”

“I’m in,” Takao says immediately.

“You don’t even know what the plan is,” Kasamatsu says.

“Doesn’t matter. If there’s something I can do to help Shin-chan, then I want to do it.”

“I’m not murdering anyone,” Kasamatsu says bluntly.

“There’s no killing in my plan,” Himuro says. Although he would. For Murasakibara, he would do anything. “Look, they said it themselves—if they stop Gold and Silver, it’s just going to play out the way Gold and Silver want. It will just look like Miracles taking out humans, and that will only add to the anti-Miracle sentiment going around in the public right now.

“But if _we_ take them out, then it’s just humans brawling with humans, yes?”

“You make it sound so easy,” Kasamatsu says.

“I have a trump card,” Himuro says triumphantly.

He has their attention, so he tells them his plan.

*

“It is a good plan, Himuro-san.”

Himuro spits out his tea. “Kuroko? Where did you come from? How long have you been there?”

“I have been sitting behind you the whole time,” Kuroko confesses as he pulls a chair up next to their table.

“Oh, yeah. I thought that was weird,” Takao says.

Himuro shoots an accusatory look at Kagami.

“Look, Kuroko goes where he wants to, I’ve given up on trying to stop him a long time ago,” Kagami says.

“It isn’t polite to eavesdrop, Kuroko-kun,” Himuro chides. “Or come uninvited.”

“I apologize. I was not going to interfere unless it was necessary. But I do approve of your plan, Himuro-san. And if I may be so bold, I believe my presence is necessary for you to pull it off successfully. Gold is a mindreader.”

Himuro mulls this over and nods. He has a pretty good idea of how Kuroko’s power works, and all things considered, Kuroko was going to need to be involved sooner or later. “Could you lure out Gold and Silver, then?”

“I could,” Kuroko hesitates, “But I believe there is someone else necessary for your plan to work properly.”

“Who?” Himuro says suspiciously.

“Akashi-kun.”

Various exclamations of “no way in hell” come from the humans at the table.

“He will not know the full details of your plan, I will make sure of that,” Kuroko says.

“It is a little off-putting how cavalierly you alter your friends’ memories,” Himuro says.

“I cannot change what I am,” Kuroko says levelly.

Not for the first time, Himuro questions Kagami’s take in men.

“It’s a good plan,” Kasamatsu says grudgingly.

“I’m a little confused about what’s supposed to happen _after_ we take them out,” Takao says. “I mean, if we’re not killing them.”

Truth be told, Himuro is still a little unclear about that himself. But he tires to sound confident when he says cryptically, “It will be handled.”

Kagami is the only one who realizes Himuro has no idea either, but he’s not calling him on his bullshit, which is really nice of him, considering he still held a grudge over what Himuro and Murasakibara did to his couch.     

*

“Murochin is planning something,” Murasakibara says. His eyes are narrowed and heavy with suspicion.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Atsushi,” Himuro says with a smile.

“Don’t try to protect me, Murochin. Murochin is just a weak, ordinary human.”

“This is true,” Himuro says pleasantly. “I know better than anyone how ordinary I am.”

Some battles can only be fought by ordinary people. Himuro is slowly learning this.

*

For his plan to work properly, the Miracles can’t be anywhere near when it all goes down. Hard enough task to accomplish, since three Miracles have now evolved from “overprotective friend” to “insanely overprotective, slightly stalkerish, incredibly possessive boyfriend.”

(Four, if you count Kuroko. Himuro now suspects Kagami is the only one who doesn’t realize they’re actually dating.)

He ends up paired with Kasamatsu, because Takao still seems to think Kise might smother him in his sleep one night if he’s alone with Kasamatsu too long.

“Taking out Gold and Silver won’t stop what’s being said,” Kasamatsu tells him.

“But it will stop it from escalating,” Himuro returns.

“I hope you’re right,” Kasamatsu says.

And then Gold and Silver step into sight, confronting Akashi.

Akashi Ordered them to come alone, Himuro knows this much. And somewhere amidst it all, Akashi now has one gold eye, signaling he’s made the transition to the “other” Akashi. Himuro’s not sure what Kuroko told the other Miracle, but Himuro sees murder and sacrifice on Akashi’s face. The Red Miracle fully intends to stop Gold and Silver, by himself, and he’s willing to die trying.

In his own way, Akashi Seijuurou is protecting the freedom his friends found. He might not understand why they chose human lovers, but he’s willing to defend them all the same.

Himuro respects Akashi for a second.

And then he forgets why he’s standing there.

*

“We were going to let the humans tear you apart,” Gold snarls. “But you dare give _us_ Orders, scum?”

“I’m going to rip you apart where you stand,” Silver yells.

There are too many witnesses, too many people around. If Akashi fights Jason Silver, people will see the monsters destroying the city.

Himuro has no idea what’s happening.

But then he sees Murasakibara and he thinks, _No, no, you’re not supposed to be here._

*

One by one the Miracles come into view. Murasakibara, Aomine, Kise and Midorima. They back Akashi like they’re making a last stand.

Himuro feels helpless. There’s nothing he can do to stop this from happening.

“Are you sure you want to do this here?” Nash says mockingly. “Jason can take you all on, and then you’ll be finished. There’s no going back from this.”

Too many people, Himuro thinks. There are far too many people, and this is how it ends, how it all ends. The life they all tried to build will end today, one way or another, and all Himuro can do is watch.

*

“Don’t underestimate us, assholes,” Aomine says.

“There are some things worth more than our reputations,” Midorima says.         

“It doesn’t matter how many people will hate us,” Kise says. “I only ever needed one person to love me.”

“How pathetic,” Nash sneers. “If you’re all so willing to die today, I’m happy to accommodate.”

“There are worst things than dying,” Murasakibara says lazily.

“And we’re taking you with us,” Akashi says. Everyone starts glowing.

_No,_ Himuro thinks. _No._

*

He gets a text.

_You have ten minutes to finish it. Any longer than that, and I won’t be able to keep it hidden._

Himuro has no idea what it means. He doesn’t recognize the name in his contact list, has never seen the number before.

*

Then, one by one, the Miracles stop glowing, and they collapse to the ground, as if smacked down by a vengeful god. Gold and Silver fall down. They try and pick themselves back up but they stumble, like some invisible weight presses down on them.

Then, Himuro remembers.

“Now!” he shouts.

*

Kagami and Takao reach Jason Silver first, and Kagami looks intensely satisfied when he punches Silver in the face.

It leaves Gold for Himuro and Kasamatsu. There is, perhaps, very little honor in taking out a weakened opponent, but Himuro has no problem with fighting dirty.

There is a scuffle—Gold and Silver are weakened, they’re probably not as strong as the average high school athlete, and it’s two against one.

They go down in a little under seven minutes.

*

“What the hell just happened?” Aomine says incredulously, as Takao and Kasamatsu work on tying up Silver and Gold.

“A Rainbow…” Akashi says, eyeing the humans warily.

“That would be me,” someone says, stepping into view. “Hello everyone, it’s been awhile. Hi, Tatsuya, sorry it took so long to get a flight into Japan.”

“No excuses Shuu, you should have been here a week ago,” Himuro chides.

“Murochin, you know the Rainbow King?” Murasakibara demands.

“ _Rainbow King?_ ” Himuro says delightedly.

Nijimura buries his face in his hands. “Please don’t call me that. Ever. Guys, it’s Nijimura Shuuzo now.”

“No, no, we can’t just move past ‘Rainbow King,’” Himuro says.

“It’s GK-1365, OK? Generation ‘King’ from the Rainbow Thirteens. God Tatsuya, do not make a thing out of this.”

“I am totally making a thing out of this.”

“And this is why I never told you I had superpowers.”

“Wait, wait, so it’s done? Just like that?” Aomine demands. “We didn’t even _do_ anything! Nuh uh, no way, I’m not being saved by _Kagami!_ ”

“I didn’t do it for you!” Kagami yells automatically.

“If you wanted to carry out your last stand, I’m happy to go back to America,” Nijimura says.

“We appreciate the help, Nijimura-san,” someone says politely from behind them. “But could you please leave for a few minutes? I will not be able to use my abilities while you are here.”

Nijimura grabs Gold and Silver from the ground. Himuro is keenly aware that every person in a three mile radius is staring at them and whispering.

“A little help, 989? 599?” Nijimura says.

“Eeeh, how bothersome,” Murasakibara protests. But he and Aomine help drag the two unconscious men away.

When they’re out of range, the remaining Miracles all take a huge breath of relief, as color returns to their faces and they can stand up again.

Then all the witnesses turn away, first confused, then oblivious. They go about their day as if they never saw anything strange.

Only the Miracles and the people who love them look at the figure, standing still and glowing black, misdirecting everyone’s attention away.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel the need to repeat my disclaimer that all my knowledge about the JSDF came from watching GATE, and this particular chapter was heavily inspired by episode 8, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. It was a lot of fun, though.

Kagami catches Kuroko just as he sways and collapses, a pale sickly mess. He has the completely ridiculous urge to pick him up and carry him princess style (he could do it, easily, Kuroko weighs next to nothing. But Kuroko would probably punch him in the stomach if he tried and for a guy with almost zero muscles, his punches _hurt._ ) He resists, and settles for supporting Kuroko, one arm around his waist, like he did after the Touou game.

Akashi looks at Kuroko and only Kuroko and says, “You just erased the memory of everyone nearby.”

“Yes, Akashi-kun,” Kuroko says wearily, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kagami glares at Akashi. He knows this doesn’t faze Akashi in the slightest, but so help him, if he gives Kuroko a hard time now…

“You have been hiding the extent of your abilities for years,” Akashi says, and he sounds curious, maybe impressed. “You deliberately let Teiko underestimate you. How long were you planning your escape?”

Kuroko sticks out his chin. “Since Orange died.”

“But…” Akashi’s brows furrow. “That was six years ago.”

“Yes, Akashi-kun.”

Akashi doesn’t seem to know what to say to that. Instead, he focuses his attention on Himuro. “And how long were _you_ planning this?”

“Since Denny’s. It all went much smoother than I could have anticipated,” Himuro says cheerfully. “Who knew my old friend from LA was at Teiko? The world’s a small place.”

*

 When Himuro’s friend comes back it’s only to make a few reassurances and explanations. “I had been sent to America to help control the other Projects, but I escaped in transit. It was only fitting that I help now; they would have never been able to escape had I still been around.”

“What are you planning on doing with them?” Akashi asks coolly.

“Take them back to America. There’s a place I can put them were they won’t trouble anyone.”

“Indeed?” Akashi queries.

“I know some people who handle matters like this quietly,” Nijimura says. “Teiko wasn’t the only place that could make Projects. It was just by far the most ruthless.”

“You will have to tell me what you know of these places,” Akashi says, still in that pleasant voice that holds a lot of unsaid threats.

Kagami knows he’s not the most perceptive of people, but even he can tell there’s something _there_ between the two of them. A history. Kagami wonders why all the Miracles respond to the Rainbow in this way. They’d said the different Generations didn’t have much to do with one another, so what exactly is their history? Is the Rainbow a friend or an enemy?

“Someday, I will,” Nijimura says mildly. “Tatsuya, I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Sounds good,” Himuro says.

And that just leaves the Miracles, their boyfriends, and a lot of silent accusations.

“That went well,” Himuro says, clapping his hands together, “Who wants cake? I feel like we should have celebratory cake.”

“Takao, we had this conversation about you risking your life and not telling me.”

“Senpai, you were so badass! But how could you? You could have been killed!”

“Oh, you _so_ don’t get to point fingers. What the hell were you guys planning?”

“Murochin, why didn’t you tell me you knew the Rainbow King?”

There are going to be a lot of budding relationships in the doghouse.

Kagami takes Kuroko and makes a discreet exit.

*

It’s hard to believe it’s over. Kagami takes Kuroko back to his place, puts him in his bed, and thinks about how much he wants to keep Kuroko there forever.

He puts a glass of water by his bed and a sandwich. “Are you OK?”

“I will be fine, Kagami-kun, thank you. I have just overexerted myself. I will be fine after some rest.”

Kuroko falls silent, and Kagami slowly realizes he’s fallen asleep. Kagami watches for a few minutes, basking in awe at how amazing his friend is.

After awhile he starts to feel like a pervert, watching Kuroko sleep like that, so he walks out into his living room and calls Himuro.

*

“Are you sure you can’t stay longer?” Himuro asks.

Nijimura shakes his head. “I have to transport them back to America.”

“I still can’t believe you are part of a secret organization of superpowered spies and you never told me.”

“I told you, that’s not what we—oh, never mind.”

“Come and visit, yeah?”

Nijimura hesitates. “It really is better if I’m not around them. Even when I’m not actively repressing their powers it is uncomfortable, for all of us, to be near each other. I never approached them for just that reason. The kindest thing I can do for those guys is to stay out of their lives.”

Himuro bids his friend farewell. Kagami has been hanging back to let them say their good-byes in private, but he can’t help but overhear some of it. He has so many questions, but maybe he doesn’t need to know the answers.

“So that’s it?” Kagami says. “It’s over, right? We can all go home, back to our normal lives?”

“I hope so. I’ve missed a lot of school.”           

*

He hopes things will go back to normal. He misses the days in which the only thing he ever thought about was basketball.

When Himuro and Murasakibara go back to Akita, Kagami expects to breathe a huge sigh of relief to finally have his apartment back to himself. Instead, it just seems empty, and quiet. Kuroko doesn’t come by anymore, which is probably good, because Kagami really needs to figure out whatever this _thing_ is he has with the other boy.

When he goes to school he doesn’t expect to be bombarded by reporters.

“You! You’re in the basketball club, right? You played with the Miracle? What was that like? Did you ever fear for your life?”

“What?” Kagami says in a daze.

“How do you feel about going to school with a killer?”

“What?” Kagami snarls, getting angry now.

“Do you think it’s fair to have a monster on your team?”

“ _Kuroko’s not a monster!”_ Kagami yells. And he doesn’t even think, he raises his fist to punch the guy (the camera in his face is supremely annoying.)

“Whoa there,” Izuki says, coming out of no where. Mitobe catches Kagami’s arm.        

“Hyuuga, Mitobe, restrain and reel in the Bakagami!” Coach orders. “Izuki, Koganei, run interference!”

“Aye, aye, Coach!” Koganei says.

“Adoring public, I beseech you,” Izuki says to the cameras, “Would you like to hear a funny joke?”

“What do you think you were doing, idiot?” Hyuuga growls into Kagami’s ear as he pulls him away.

“What the hell is going on?” Kagami asks, although his stomach is in knots and he thinks he probably knows what’s happening, he just didn’t want to believe it.

“It was all over the internet last night,” Hyuuga says incredulously. “How did you miss it?”

“I don’t go online very often,” Kagami mutters.

Hyuuga isn’t really listening. “We need to find Kuroko _now._ ”

*

Finding Kuroko, for once, isn’t actually all that difficult. He is in Kagami’s class, after all. Hyuuga and the other Second Years leave them both with dire threats regarding what will happen to them if they don’t come to practice today equipped with explanations.

Kagami sits in front of Kuroko and the first thing he notices is how incredibly pale he still looks. Far more than usual; Kuroko looks like he’s fading away. The second thing he notices is the fact that their classmates are noticing Kuroko. They’re casting sidelong glances and whispering.

Kuroko’s Latent Overflow has faded somewhat since the Winter Cup, but this is still disconcerting.

“Oi, Kuroko. Are you OK? Why can they see you?”

“I am still exhausted from our battle with Gold,” Kuroko says quietly. “I might have deliberately understated my own abilities, but I am still the weakest of all the Projects. Under normal circumstances, I might have recovered more, but…”

“What’s going on?” Kagami asks, but is immediately shushed by the teacher.

*

They resume their conversation at lunch time.    

“Momoi-san called us last night to warn us. Apparently, Gold had a contingency plan in place, just in case he suddenly disappeared. He has released some confidential Teiko files regarding our past missions onto the Internet. Momoi-san has caught most of them. She took down what she could, and what she could not she doctored so that they appear fake, but nonetheless it has caught a lot of attention, and has raised a lot of questions.”

Kuroko falls silent after his explanation, like he’s catching his breath. He looks sick, too sick, and he’s not eating enough. Kagami keeps shoving more food into his hands but Kuroko only nibbles at it.

“So it was all for nothing?” Kagami says, dismayed.

Kuroko shakes his head. “Not quite. This was one final burst on Gold’s part. With him out of the picture, he cannot escalate the problem. If we can get through this, we will be fine.”

If. And what is behind that “if?” What _will_ happen to the Miracles if the public decides they’re too dangerous?  
Kagami gives Kuroko another melon bread the other boy won’t eat, and feels helpless.

*

As promised, they go to the basketball club prepared with explanations. Kuroko does most of the talking as he gives a quiet run-down of Gold and his intentions. He leaves out _a lot_ —Gray and Green 7284, for one thing; how they eventually stopped Gold; the fact that the “rumors” about Teiko’s Project assassins are true. When all of that is removed, the story is pretty sparse, and even Kagami can tell the Second Years aren’t buying it.

“You should have told us this sooner, morons!” Hyuuga yells. It’s like the Seirin basketball club has all universally decided not to press Kuroko for more details. “We’re comrades, aren’t we? We’re on your side!”

Kuroko ducks his head. “Thank you.”

“Alright, from now on, no one talks to the reporters, got it?” Riko orders. “And we’re definitely not going to _yell_ at them, right?” She eyes Kagami.

“We’re going to handle this _together,_ ” Hyuuga emphasizes.

“Thank you,” Kuroko says again, this time in a whisper that only Kagami is close enough to hear.

*

“Come home with me,” Kagami orders.

“Kagami-kun is so bold,” Kuroko murmurs.

“Idiot!” Kagami says, blushing. “You just shouldn’t be alone right now.”

Kuroko doesn’t protest. Kagami makes him dinner and makes sure he eats. Some color is finally returning to Kuroko’s face.

He gives Kuroko his bed, and prepares a guest mattress for himself. After he tucks Kuroko into bed he turns to leave but Kuroko catches his wrist.

“Stay, please.”

Kagami freezes. He’s not entirely sure what Kuroko is asking, or what he’s offering.

“Kuroko?”

“The bed is big enough for both of us,” Kuroko says, which gives Kagami zero clue as to his intentions.

Kagami climbs into the bed, his heart drumming against his skin. He feels feverish, and thinks he must be as red as his hair. He’s shared a bed with a naked Alexandra Garcia (admittedly, largely unaware he was doing so at the time) but it doesn’t prepare him at all for how it feels to have a fully clothed Kuroko nestle up against him. Kuroko tucks himself against Kagami’s side, burying his face into Kagami’s chest, and clings tightly to his body. Kuroko falls asleep in a matter of seconds.

It’s the most natural thing in the world to wrap his arms around Kuroko and hold him tight. His heart still feels like a bomb about to explode and he thinks there’s no way he could ever fall asleep like this.

But the sound of Kuroko’s breathing, the warmth of his body, the scent of vanilla, it slowly lulls him into closing his eyes and having the best night’s sleep of his life.  

*

He wakes up to the loss of body heat. Kuroko sits up, pulling out of Kagami’s arms, and only then does Kagami hear Kuroko’s cell phone ringing.

“Hello? Kise-kun?... I see. Yes, I understand, I will turn on a computer soon…. No, that is not necessary, he is here with me… I am hanging up now, Kise-kun.”

Which Kuroko does.

“What did Kise want?” Kagami asks blearily. It’s six in the morning, and no one should be awake at this ungodly hour.

“He wants to set up a video chat with all of us. Actually, I believe it is Kasamatsu-san who has something he wishes to say.”

“Kasamatsu?” Kagami trusts the Kaijo Third Year not to demand unnecessary meetings, so he yawns and goes to set up his computer.

Setting up a seven way video chat takes some maneuvering, but he gets it done.

“No way, Kurokocchi! You’re actually at Kagamicchi’s? How scandalous! Kagamicchi, have you been debauching our innocent Kurokocchi?”

“Shut up, I haven’t!” Kagami yells. Although considering Kuroko’s epic bedhead and the fact that he’s wearing one of Kagami’s T-shirts as a night shirt, Kagami has to admit the evidence looks pretty damning.

“Am I the only one who slept alone last night? Not fair! Shin-chan, why aren’t we having more fun?”

“Be quiet, Takao.”

Takao is the only human who conferences in from his own room. Kasamatsu and Kise share a screen together, as do Himuro and Murasakibara. (Everyone is very deliberately not commenting on the fact that neither Himuro nor Murasakibara have a shirt on). Aomine, Momoi and Akashi all use their own computers.

“Can we please get straight to the point, Ryouta?” Akashi says. “I will have to get ready for school soon.”

Kagami thinks it’s ominous that Akashi hasn’t reverted back to his saner half.

It’s Kasamatsu who answers. “A special Diet has been called for the JSDF. My Dad and some of the soldiers are going to be questioned regarding their actions with the Miracles on national television. All of you are going to be brought in too.”

“What does that mean?” Akashi asks sharply.

“It means they’re going to question you in front of a million cameras about whether or not you’re a threat to society,” Kasamatsu says bluntly. “Under the pretense of reprimanding the JSDF soldiers involved, they’re going to take this chance to put you on the spot and make you look bad.”

Everyone mulls this over. “But this is a good opportunity, right?” Takao says. “It also gives you guys the chance to speak for yourselves—prove you’re _not_ threats. If the Diet goes well, we might be able to put this whole thing to rest.”

Aomine snorts. “Oh, is _that_ all we have to do? Great.” The Miracles all look a bit sheepish.

“Ehhh,” Murasakibara says.

“We’re doomed,” Kise says glumly.

“I don’t see why you’re all so pessimistic about this,” Himuro says. “Takao-kun is correct, if they’re putting you on the stand, you have the chance to persuade people that Gold was wrong to paint you in such a bad light.”

“Himuro-san,” Kuroko says, and even _he_ sounds depressed, “There is a reason why none of us besides Kise-kun have ever appeared much in public.”

“When we’re on camera, we have a tendency to come across as, hm, what’s the word?” Aomine says.

“Threatening?” Momoi suggests.

“I was going to say, ‘like assholes,’ but ‘threatening’ works,” Aomine says.

“We always made Kise and Momoi do the interviews,” Midorima says, pushing up his glasses. “The rest of us are not very… personable.”

“Kuroko’s normal,” Kagami defends, looking at Kuroko.

“Thank you, Kagami-kun. But while I do not appear _threatening,_ neither do I come across as particularly sympathetic.” And Kagami thinks about Kuroko’s deadpan, expressionless demeanor and concedes that maybe he has a point.

“And I’m not as appealing as I was three years ago,” Momoi says sadly. “Women tend to hate me when I talk. I might sway the male public, though.”

Everyone sort of coughs and shuffles side to side and then graciously decide to move away from the topic of “why women might resent Momoi.”

“Then let Kise do all the talking,” Takao says.

Kise shakes his head. “I definitely could try! I am very likeable! But unfortunately, a lot of Gold’s files targeted me specifically. A lot of people are now fixating on the fact that I can be anyone and how that skill _might_ be useful in assassination attempts.”

Everyone falls silent as they considered that the problem regarding how threatening they look wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t, in fact, very threatening people who were actually trained as assassins.

“I hate to bring up the obvious problem, but what exactly are we supposed to say if they _ask_ us whether or not we were trained assassins?” Midorima says.

“Lie?” Takao suggests.

“Lying works,” Himuro affirms.

“Lying will not do us much good if the JSDF has to answer the same questions,” Akashi says.

“My father’s not going to throw you all under the bus,” Kasamatsu growls. “ _None_ of them will. And besides, they have just as much to lose by the truth coming out as you do.”

“It doesn’t matter. Do you know how hard it is to coordinate everyone to lie about the same thing? Not to mention the problem of lying _convincingly_. Atsushi, are you a trained killer?”

“What? Akachin knows I—oh. I’m supposed to lie. Noooo. No. Of course not. I’m harmless.”

The monotone words of Murasakibara meet horrified silence as everyone contemplates their chances.

“We’re doomed,” Kise says again.

“Don’t give up so easily, idiot!” Kasamatsu says, hitting Kise over the head. “All of you, don’t give up so easily! The Diet’s in three days, you guys need to use all that time to practice being pleasant human beings who wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

“That’s so bothersome. Three days isn’t a lot of time,” Murasakibara whines. “Wouldn’t it be easier to flee the country?”

“I’ll work on making him presentable,” Himuro promises.

*

Kagami makes breakfast, and despite everything, he thinks about how nice it would be if every morning started out this way (morning video conference of doom not withstanding). Waking up with Kuroko, making him breakfast, eating with him, walking to school with him.

The immediate bombardment of reporters once they hit school grounds ruins Kagami’s feelings of domestic bliss. He does his best to shield Kuroko—to be his light, so Kuroko can slip away unnoticed.

“Do you feel safe with a Miracle at school?”

“What do you think their true motive is for being at your school?”

And then suddenly Kuroko is there, quiet and angry, like he was during the Kirisaki Daiichi game. “All we have ever wanted to do is be free.”

As a million camera flashes go off, Kagami pulls Kuroko onto school grounds, where the reporters can’t go.

“Coach told us not to talk to the reporters.”

“I know,” Kuroko says.

“You need to lie low.”

“I know.”

 _You could hide,_ Kagami wants to say. Because surely everyone was thinking it—there’s no reason Kuroko has to go through this with the rest of them. He could probably make sure no one ever remembered he existed; he could run away and have a peaceful life.

But Kuroko wouldn’t be Kuroko if he did that.

And Kagami wouldn’t love him if he wasn’t Kuroko.

*

The day of the Diet and Kagami is more nervous than he’s ever been. He didn’t get any sleep the night before, but this is different than the restless excitement before a game.

The entire Seirin team arrives early so they can get a seat. They’re not alone—Kaijo, Shutoku, Yosen, even Touou and Rakuzan show up—a good percentage of the citizens in attendance today are high school basketball players. It reassures Kagami, somewhat. At least there are allies here, people who don’t think the Miracles are monsters. Kagami sits sandwiched between his senpai, but exchanges a nod with Himuro over at the Yosen crowd.

Kuroko sits on the other side of the stands, with the Miracles, surrounded by JSDF soldiers. All the Miracles are wearing suits (even Momoi), like young professionals, but none of them look particularly “unthreatening.”

The thing is, most of them are near two meters tall or over. They’re physically superior in ways that make them look older than they are, and when they’re under stress they enter a “battle mode” where they look ready to fight anything that gets in their way. Kagami has always enjoyed sparring with them on the court, but he understands from the other Seirin First Years that the Miracles have “scary as fuck” auras even when they’re not doing anything.

They are not doing a very good job at appearing normal. Even Kuroko is tense and alert—like someone who is ready to spring into action at any moment.

People have explained to Kagami over and over again that this is not a _trial,_ per se. When all of this is over, they’re not going to lock up the Miracles immediately afterwards, no matter what decision is made.

But seeing them there, on the other side of the room, surrounded by a dozen official looking people ready to condemn them, Kagami things it looks pretty damn close to a trial to him. A Salem witch trial.

These people look ready to burn someone at the stake.

*

The Diet is _long,_ and people talk. A lot. Kagami desperately tries to follow along, but they’re using a lot of big legal words and he only understands half of what is being said. He feels desperate and confused and has no idea how things are actually going. For the first time, Kagami wishes he was smarter.

But then he sees the thin line of Riko’s lips and her steely, angry gaze and thinks maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t understand what the people are saying.

After awhile he gives up on following along and just focuses all his attention on Kuroko.

*

When they start calling people to the stand, Kagami immediately tenses. (Hyuuga explains, again, that they are not “being called to the stand” and to stop calling it that, but Kagami has watched a lot of _Law and Order_ in his youth so he’s going to stick with what he knows.)

He would have recognized Kasamatsu’s father, even if they hadn’t called his name. Kasamatsu Youji looks like an older, less intense version of his son. He has a laid back way of speaking that is personable but makes Kagami question how seriously the man is taking this.

“Sergeant Kasamatsu, was there ever any indication that these children could be dangerous?”

Kagami sucks in his breath. The whole court room (“This is not a courtroom, shut up Kagami”) seems to inhales as everyone waits for Youji’s reply.

“Well now, that’s a bit of a vague question,” Youji says, stroking his chin. “They do have superpowers, and that’s certainly dangerous, but you should see my boys if you record over their DVR programs. Now, _that’s_ dangerous.”

There’s a smattering of laughter, but the tension in the air is still palpable.

“Sergeant Kasamatsu, I can’t help but feel you are avoiding the question,” the woman says sternly. “Did the JSDF knowingly harbor killers and then place them in high schools?”

“Kitahara-san,” Youji says, his face deadly serious, “I promise you, if the JSDF ever had the slightest feeling that the Miracles were a threat to society, we would have _never_ encouraged them to go to high school.”

Kagami is impressed. Youji managed to be honest while still not answer the question. Adults can be kind of amazing sometimes.

“Is this your personal feeling, Sergeant Kasamatsu, or do you have evidence to support your claim?”

“Are you, perhaps, suggesting I am biased because I live with one?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m suggesting.”

“Then, you are also suggesting that I am a bad father, and I take offense to that.”

This throws the woman for a loop (Kagami still isn’t sure if she’s a lawyer or a reporter or what. He doesn’t like her, and is glad to see her flustered.) “I wasn’t—”

“I have three sons, Kitahara-san, three sons I love more than anything else in the world. Do you really think I would knowingly expose my boys to a threat?”

“I wasn’t suggesting—’

“My eldest son has been visiting the Miracles since he was fifteen years old. Are you suggesting I knowingly brought him to a place where he could be hurt? Exposed him to danger?”

“Sergeant Kasamatsu, this is off track—”

“I would do anything for my sons, Kitahara-san. _All_ of them, I would do anything to keep them from harm.”

“I’m sure you are a good father,” the woman says weakly.

Kagami relaxes somewhat. If things keep going this way, maybe it will all work out.

*

Of course, things do not keep going smoothly, because then it’s time to interview the Miracles and the first person they put on the stand is Aomine.

The woman seems to have changed tactics. She isn’t asking them about Teiko, or whether or not they are trained assassins (Kagami’s pretty sure Aomine could have lied his way out of that one.)

Instead, she asks about basketball and Kagami immediately feels they’re all doomed.

“Are you a good player, Aomine-kun?”

Kagami can literally _see_ Aomine about to say “the only one who can beat me is me” but Aomine sees Momoi and Kuroko glare at him and instead just says, “Yes.”

“The Ace of your team, right?”

“When they let me play.”

“And don’t you think your abilities give you an unfair advantage?”

“It’s not my fault everyone else is weak.”

Doomed.

*

They start asking Murasakibara questions next, and Kagami begins to think they’re deliberately avoiding Kise and Momoi; they _want_ to make them seem like monsters.

“Murasakibara-kun, your ability give you enhanced strength, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Murasakibara says, sounding bored.

“Are you strong enough to crush _people?”_

“Oh, sure, easy.”

Kagami smacks his forehead. He can _feel_ Himuro doing the same from across the room.

“And _have_ you ever used your strength to injure normal humans?”

“This is _bullshit!_ ” Himuro yells, causing everyone in the room to stare at him.

“Young man, if you can’t contain yourself, you are going to have to leave.”

“But this _is_ bullshit,” Hyuuga yells, startling Kagami. “If you want to know if the Miracles are dangerous, shouldn’t you ask the people who go to school with them, play with them?”

“That’s right!” Miyagi yells from the Shutoku side. “Shouldn’t anyone ask _us_ if we want to go to school with them? We _like_ Midorima!”

“Aomine’s lazy and arrogant but he’s our teammate and we want ‘im!” Wakamatsu yells.

“Sei-chan Forever! We love Sei-chan!” Reo chimes in. The Rakuzan team has coordinated red shirts on, and fans with Akashi’s face on them they take this opportunity to wave.

This causes a flood of responses from the gathered basketball players, everyone chiming in their support. It’s chaos—and Kagami just sits back in a daze.

It was the Miracles’ problem—and the humans who loved them. That’s what everyone thought this entire time. That they had to do it alone. Somehow, it never occurred to anyone that their teammates would also throw in their support. But as Kagami looks at the Seirin team—Second Years and fellow First Years alike—yelling and looking just as angry as Kagami feels, he realizes how stupid they’ve been all along.

The person who is not a judge, but clearly important, brings everyone to order. “If one more basketball player interrupts I’m having you _all_ thrown out.”

“But shouldn’t their voices be heard?” Kasamatsu Youji says. “These children know the Miracles better than anyone, and they clearly support their teammates.”

“These children are in favor of winning,” the not-judge says coolly, “I am sure the opposing teams who do not have the benefit of a superpowered teammate would not be willing to play against a team who did.”

Kagami glowers, as does the entire Seirin team. So do all the “normal” basketball players. They’d fought together with _everyone_ ; they only let the Miracles play against each other. Who was this guy to judge them for their effort?

But no one risks another outburst.  
*

They skip over Akashi, snidely saying that “anyone whose orders must be obeyed was too dangerous to be heard.”

Akashi glared at this pronouncement in a way that did absolutely nothing for their goal of appearing harmless.

They question Kuroko next.

Kagami knows he’s been blessed with many things in his life—he’s athletically gifted, his parents are wealthy, he’s always had great friends—so he’s never really thought about wanting _more._ Unlike Himuro, he didn’t grow up wanting superpowers.

He’s never wanted superpowers until right now, this moment, when he wishes with all his heart that he could pick up Kuroko and take him far away from all of this; protect him at all cost.

Kagami has never been religious, but he prays to any god who will listen.

He prays for a miracle.

*

“So you can erase memories?”

“That is correct,” Kuroko says, causing the audience to murmur amongst themselves. “But only in a very limited capacity. I can only make someone temporarily forget my own presence.”

“But the fact is you are essentially brainwashing people, correct?”

“I have never thought of it as such.”

“So what is to stop you from walking into a bank and robbing it? You could make everyone forget you were even there.”

“Just because I can do something, does not mean I will. The ability to choose between what is right and what is wrong is what makes us human.”

More murmurs. It’s a good answer, and Kuroko _should_ be coming across as sympathetic. He’s smaller and not as scary as the rest of them.

But his emotionless demeanor works against him. He comes across as very cold and alien to the crowd. It makes Kagami want to scream.

_You don’t know him! He fights and feels and burns brighter than anyone else I know!_

He clenches his fists so tightly he can feel his nails digging into his skin.

“Very eloquently said. Perhaps you can answer what everyone seems to have avoided so far. Did Teiko train you to kill?”

Kagami never knew how much a second could feel like an eternity.

And then shouts from outside derail the question, distracting everyone away from the fact that Kuroko hesitated before answering.

The shouts get louder.

“What is going on out there?” the not-judge demands.

“There appears to be a crowd of high school students outside causing a ruckus,” a cop says.

“I have already said that if any more basketball player interrupts these proceedings—”

“For what it’s worth, they appear to be volleyball players.”

_Volleyball?_

“Do you know any volleyball players?” Kagami whispers to Hyuuga.

Hyuuga frowns. “I don’t think Seirin even has a volleyball club!”

The doors burst open and a flood of high school boys come pouring in. At the center, a small, orange haired kid dressed in a black tracksuit strides forward.

The not-judge yells for order and demands, “Who _are_ you?”

The orange haired kid slams his hands on the railing that separates the crowd from those beings questioned.

“I am Hinata Shouyou. Karasuno First Year Volley Club Number Ten, middle-blocker. Designation GM-O394, also known as ‘Orange.’ Teiko failed experiment.” He grips the railing and glares at the questioners like a knight standing before a dragon. “And I’m here to defend my humanity.”

Chaos erupts.  
*

The volleyball students surround the orange haired kid. The ones closest to him wear the same black tracksuit, but there’s so many of them, it’s obvious they’re not all from the same school. There has to be at least ten different schools standing behind him, filling the not-court and looking belligerent.

“Young man, are you claiming to be an eighth Miracle?” the not-judge says sharply. “Because no one informed us that there were _more_ of you.”

“No one knew. I escaped Teiko six years ago, and I’ve been living a ‘normal’ life all this while, not a threat to anyone. I’ve been living with humans and playing volleyball with them—”

“In _official_ games? Against normal students?” the not-judge questions.

“It doesn’t give me as many advantages as you think!” Hinata says hotly.

“Oh yeah, Hinata sucks at volleyball,” a tall, blonde-haired kid with glasses says helpfully, “His serves and receives are crap, he can’t actually block all that well, and even his spikes are—”

“Oi! Tsukishima!”

“Just trying to help prove your point.”

“Help me out a little _less!_ ”

The crowd chuckles at the exchange. There is something endearing about the scene—something so _normal_.

“Anyone who has ever played against Chibichan will tell you that Karasuno is a great team, but not a superhuman one,” a pretty boy wearing a white and teal tracksuit says. “And everyone who has ever played Karasuno is here to testify to that.” He motions to the volleyball crowd.

“That is not the issue here,” says the exasperated interviewer. “You are sidetracking the main problem.”

“You can’t lock up the other Miracles,” Hinata says. “If you do, you have to lock me up too.”

“And if you lock up Hinata, you have to lock up everyone here,” says a tall, black haired kid standing next to the new Miracle. His facial expression makes him the most terrifying person in the room. “Because Hinata’s the most human out of all of us.”

“No one is being locked up,” the interviewer says exasperatedly. “We are _trying_ to find out whether or not you’re _dangerous_. And anyway, how do we even know you’re a Miracle?”

Those standing closest to Hinata duck out of the way before he even starts to glow. Then he’s surrounded by an orange light. He jumps, using the guard rail as a launch pad, and then he’s in the air, jumping nearly twenty feet. (And yes, Kagami is jealous.)

And then he lands in front of the not-judge and the questioners, standing in front of Kuroko.

“Then ask me anything. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

*

The not-courtroom is feeling packed as the volleyball players squish into the seats. Most of them find spots amongst the basketball crowds, who welcome allies when they see them.

The opposition clearly doesn’t know how to handle the new kid—doesn’t _want_ to deal with him. Because unlike most of the other Miracles, the kid is _tiny_. He’s even shorter than _Kuroko._ He looks like he could fit easily amongst a crowd of middle schoolers, maybe even elementary.

It is a bit like the opposition was doing their best to prove all dogs were dangerous while faced with a crowd of Rottweilers and Pitbulls and now all of the sudden a Pomeranian is in front of them and they’re still trying to make the same case.

“So—Hinata-kun—you… fly?”

“I can jump!” he says proudly. “Really high! And I can sorta float for a few seconds. But I can’t fly, which let me tell you, has been a major disappointment to me all my life. That, and the fact that I’m not tall.”

The crowd laughs again, and Kagami can see the opposition starting to panic.

“But you have to admit, the other Miracles have dangerous abilities.”

“Yeah, and they’re taller,” Hinata says, getting another laugh.

Kagami is in awe. This is Orange, Kuroko’s first friend. It’s like he’s Kuroko opposite in every way. If Kuroko was someone you naturally overlooked, Hinata was someone you couldn’t help but notice. He drew in the gaze like he was the sun. And if Kuroko was hard to read, then everything Hinata was feeling was right there on his face like an open book. Kagami has never seen someone so naturally expressive.

The lawyer (or reporter, or whatever) has a hard look on her face, like she realizes if she doesn’t go in for the kill now she’s going to lose this crowd entirely.

“Hinata-kun, answer me once and for all: Did Teiko train you to be killers?”

Hinata’s face grows cold and his gaze hardens. His aura sends shivers down Kagami’s spine. Hinata stares at the woman and then states flatly:

“What Teiko did was hurt us, over and over again.”

*

It’s like the entire audience sucks in its breath at Hinata’s pronouncement. The silence practically screams.

Hinata’s expression never waivers. “They electrocuted Black every time he smiled or cried, they whipped Purple when he didn’t do what they wanted, they broke Blue’s legs once when he ran away too far.” He points to the Miracles when he talks, so everyone knows who he’s taking about, and then slams his hand against his heart, “They tried to kill me and left me in a garbage heap to die. They beat us and starved us and locked us up in tiny boxes. You can’t lock us up again. You can’t.”

Kuroko has his face hidden behind his hands, but he’s shaking, and Kagami knows he’s crying. Momoi openly weeps next to him. A sniffle near Kagami catches his attention and he sees Riko crying next to Hyuuga. She’s not alone. Himuro is crying, so is a tiny blonde girl who came in with the volleyball club; Wakamatsu is bawling and he’s not alone among the basketball players. There’s not a single dry eye amongst the Rakuzan crowd. A fair amount of the audience weeps in the stands.

“I am not an assassin,” Hinata says, quiet like a storm. “I’m a volleyball player.”

*

The opposition pretty much lost after that point. There’s no way they could keep hounding the Miracles without looking like assholes and bullies and the public sentiment isn’t with them anymore.

The rest of it all passes like a blur and then the room is cheering. The Miracles leave the stand to be with their respective teams and it’s like a homecoming. Seirin pounces on Kuroko like they’ve won the Winter Cup.

It’s hard to believe it’s over. Kagami meets Kuroko’s gaze and they both stare at each other in a state of shellshock, not knowing what to do next.

*         

Kagami’s not sure who first suggested it, but the myriad volleyball and basketball players decides to have a party and they all end up in a park. A few of the JSDF soldiers buy everyone pizza, and there’s now a heavy competition going on of a game people can’t decide if they want to call “volley basketball” or “basket volleyball.”

Kagami hangs back with Kuroko, who looks like he’s trying to disappear into the scenery. “So that’s Orange, huh? He’s tinier than I imagined.”

“The scientists thought a smaller frame might make him more aerodynamic,” Kuroko replies.

“You should go talk to him,” Kagami prompts. Because he’s keenly aware that Kuroko _hasn’t_ approached Hinata.

“I am… not sure what to say to him. What he did today was… very impressive.”

Kagami looks over to where Hinata is arguing with Murasakibara. _Impressive_ doesn’t cover half of it. Kagami overheard some of the volleyball players talking; apparently most of the teams came from the Miyagi Prefecture.

“Go talk to him anyway,” Kagami says gruffly.

Kuroko nods and moves forward. Hinata stops yelling at Murasakibara (he doesn’t appreciate being patted on the head any more than Kuroko does) and smiles like the sun is coming out, “Hey Black!”

“Hello Orange. Thank you for what you did today.”

Hinata looks like there’s a lot of things he wants to say but he doesn’t know how to say any of them.

“Although, it would have been nice to know you were alive sooner than this,” Kuroko adds, in a tone of voice Kagami recognizes as vindictive.

“I didn’t know _you_ were alive!” Hinata protests. “I didn’t know you were alive until I saw you on TV the other day.”

“Oh? So you would’ve just left the rest of us to rot, then?” Aomine says.

Hinata narrows his eyes. “To be fair, you left _me_ to die.”

Aomine laughs and slaps Hinata on the back. “Yeah, I totally would’ve left us to hang if I were you.”

*

Kagami ends up hanging back because he doesn’t want to interfere with Kuroko and Hinata’s reunion. He somehow ends up standing next to the scary black-haired kid who’d been closest to Hinata when they arrived. They don’t seem to have much to say to each other, but they’re both watching the Kuroko-Hinata reunion with similar pained expressions.

Takao walks up to both of them. “Come on, you two. You can be on my volley basketball team. Hey, you’re Kageyama, right?”

“Yes?” Kageyama says warily.

“You’re Hinata’s boyfriend, right?”

“I’m his setter.”

Takao makes a face. “What does that mean? Is that volleyball for boyfriend?”

Kageyama considers this and shrugs. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Then you’re one of us, man!” Takao laughs and slaps Kageyama on the back repeatedly. “One of the exclusive ‘Miracle Boyfriend Club!’ We should buy shirts! Design logos! Go on parade!”

Kageyama looks increasingly alarmed at each suggestion and Takao tugs him away.

Midorima takes his place, eying Kagami. He follows his gaze over to where Kuroko and Hinata work on getting a volleyball into a hoop.

“Kuroko once said that Orange’s kindness wasn’t a weakness. Once again, he’s been proven right.”

Kagami can’t wrap his head around the fact that it wasn’t just his teammates who came to support Hinata, but so many opposing teams who had played against him and _lost_. Just how much charisma can one guy have?

“The Miracles are trending on the internet now,” Kagami offers. “You’re more popular than ever.”

“I’m not sure this is what I would have chosen,” Midorima says stiffly. “But I suppose the alternative is worse.”

“Oi! Midorima! Kuroko’s boyfriend! Come join us!” Hinata calls.

Kagami blushes. Kuroko isn’t correcting his friend, so pretty much the only thing Kagami can do is go join them.

*

By the end of the day there are quite a few teary farewells—several of the basketball players seemed to have made everlasting vows of friendship with some of the volleyball players.

Hinata and Kuroko exchange phone numbers. “We have a lot to catch up on, so you should come visit, OK Tetsuya?”

“I will, Hinata-kun, I promise.”

“Tetsuyaaaa. After everything, you can call me Shouyou!”

Kuroko smiles hesitantly. “Yes, Shouyou-kun. Until next time.”

“Bye, Tetsuya! Bye Kagami!”

Kagami looks at Kuroko, who looks like he’s about to collapse. “Are you OK?”

“Just tired, Kagami-kun. It has been a long day. I would like to go home now.”

“I’ll drop you off.”

“I meant—I would like to go back to _your_ home, if that’s alright.”

Kagami’s pretty sure he manages not to blush. “Yeah, OK.”

*

Nigou has also made himself at home in Kagami’s apartment. While Kagami never expected to ever live with a dog, he’s already envisioning how to go about suggesting Kuroko just move in with him.

He sits next to Kuroko and hands him some tea.

“I’m glad your friend is alive,” he says, hoping that didn’t come across weird. “Hard to believe, though. Did he tell you how?”

Kuroko shakes his head. “He said it was a long story, and that he would tell me next time. I believe he did not want to talk about it, so I did not press. But to think he’s been alive and free these past six years… I am happy for him. He is amazing.”

“Not as amazing as you,” Kagami says, almost automatically.

“Kagami-kun is kind, but biased.”

“I am not! You’re amazing, everyone knows that! All the other Miracles are still in awe over the fact that you defied Teiko.”

Kuroko frowns. “What do you mean?”

Kagami, realizing that he’d never told Kuroko that he knew about Teiko’s torture room and Kuroko’s escape plan, gives him a quick rundown of what the Miracles had told everyone in the hospital lobby.

Kuroko shakes his head when Kagami is done talking. “I am not surprised you did not figure it out, Kagami-kun, because you are an idiot—”

“Hey!”

“—and the best minds of Teiko didn’t realize it until it was too late. But I am surprised the other Miracles still give me that much credit. I would have thought they would realize by now.”

“Realize what?”

“It is really not all that impressive. Have you ever heard of the term _hamartia?”_

“You gotta know I haven’t,” Kagami says.

Kuroko gazes at Kagami fondly. “It means ‘fatal flaw’—a term used in ancient Greek tragedies. The heroes always have a fatal flaw that brings about their own undoing. I was Teiko’s _hamartia._ ”

“What do you mean?”

“Teiko strived for Successful Projects at all costs,” Kuroko explains. “They would do anything they could to achieve Success. They created Projects that were stronger and superior than them, and they controlled them through fear.”

“Right,” Kagami says.

Kuroko continues to look fondly at Kagami, like he can’t believe Kagami’s still missing it, but likes him anyway. “But they also did everything they could to make sure I _didn’t_ feel fear. To make sure I didn’t feel anything. They were training me to resist their very form of control, all in the pursuit of making me more ‘Successful.’ They didn’t realize what they had done until it was too late.”

Somewhere through this conversation, Kuroko’s hand has sneaked its way into Kagami’s. Kagami not sure why they’re holding hands on his couch, but he’s not complaining about this development at all.

“I know the others think my emotionless demeanor is a sign that I still have not recovered from my time in Teiko. But I have never thought of it that way. This was my source of strength, what enabled my resistance, my escape. But I am not amazing, Kagami-kun. Not anymore than anyone else.”

 _You are,_ Kagami want to say. _You’re brilliant, you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met, I love you._

Kuroko blushes faintly. “I love you, too.”

It’s only then that Kagami realizes he did say all those things out loud, and he immediately wants to jump from the couch and hide, but Kuroko’s hand tightens around his, keeping him in place.

“You _are_ amazing,” Kagami says again.

“And you are a miracle, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko says. He leans up and presses a kiss against the edge of Kagami’s mouth. It’s completely chaste and lasts less than a second, but the both of them are completely flushed when Kuroko pulls away. Kuroko smiles, wide and happier than Kagami has ever seen him before, and he looks like an angel on earth as he says, “I’m so glad I met you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to everyone who guessed Orange was Hinata =) =) Sorry to everyone who hasn't watched Haikyuu! and wasn't expecting the secret crossover. I just really, really, selfishly and shamelessly wanted this to be a secret crossover.
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who has left comments and kudos. And thanks to everyone who has just quietly read. And extra thank you to everyone who read all the way to the end. Posting this story has been such a wonderful experience and I'm so happy anyone wanted to read this story. I'm sorry if it didn't end the way you wanted, I'm just happy all the same that you kept reading =) Thank you.
> 
> EDIT: This fic now has an amazing doujinshi! Please look at Nostalchoy's  
> [amazing art](http://nostacholy.tumblr.com/post/141095384055/my-first-serious-attempt-at-doujinshi-this-was) for the scene in Chapter 11.

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:
> 
> The overall story mentions some fairly extensive physical/psychological abuse of children, which again, is fairly true to what appeared in the show Dark Angel. There's also some violence (also along the lines of the show). It is never explicitly described, though, and honestly I think the overall fic would only rate PG-13. It also has implied/mentions of underage sex (all consensual). There will also be bad guys who will occasionally be creepy and a minor (incredibly minor) character death. Message me if concerned about who? Or if you want more warnings?
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at umisabaku.tumblr.com, where I will be posting a DVD commentary regarding my thoughts on the chapters as I wrote them.
> 
> Kudos are always appreciated! 
> 
> Again, I hope you enjoy =)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Experiment 626](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11684028) by [Empress_of_Trash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empress_of_Trash/pseuds/Empress_of_Trash)
  * [My Blood is Poison (My Veins are Death)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13443015) by [dreamingunderthetstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingunderthetstars/pseuds/dreamingunderthetstars)




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